Art has always played an important part in my life. My mother is a painter, and has dabbled in a lot of artistic mediums. By 15 I had experimented with stained glass, leather and jewelry. We were working on at least one new project most of the time. In my sophomore year of high school I began taking pottery classes at Pioneer Craft House, a local crafts center. I have been working with clay ever since.

I received my MFA and secondary teaching certificate from the University of Utah. Shortly after graduating I began teaching at Salt Lake Community College. I had the opportunity to set up and run the crafts center at the college. I began teaching pottery, stained glass, lapidary, small metals and anything else someone wanted to try.

Most of my current work is raku. Raku is a low temperature firing technique that requires the pieces to be taken out of the kiln while they are still very hot. In most cases the glaze on the piece is still fluid. The fast rate of cooling, from hot kiln to air temperature, causes the glaze to crackle. Post reduction, placing the hot piece in a combustible material, fills these crackles and any unglazed surface with black carbon.
Although I use a stoneware clay body for my work, it never reaches vitrification temperature. This means that raku is inherently more fragile than stoneware and should be handled with care. Always pick the piece up with both hands from the sides or bottom.

The spontaneity of the raku process helps keep me energized and excited. Every firing is a lot like Christmas.

My Raku Art should not be used to hold food or water. A container may be placed inside to hold water if desired for decorative purposes.