Birmingham, AL

Ceramics

Formerly an interior designer with a Bachelor%u2019s degree from the University of Alabama, and after nine years in the construction and design industry I decided it was time for a change. I wanted to design my life as I would a project, consciously deciding what went in and what stayed out. After a lot of reflection, I decided the art world was the natural choice. The journey began with a ceramics class at Montevallo in 1998, and workshops at the Penland School of Craft thereafter.

I primarily create functional ceramics. The dinner and serve ware I am currently promoting are high-fired stoneware. It is important for me to maintain a hand-crafted look, for the user to at-a-glance know a human hand created the piece. The forms are organic and simple; my artistic focus is surface texture and color. I render graphic images in underglazes and add texture with hand-made stamps, which are generally organic in look and feel. The glazes I use are primarily custom glazes I develop in my studio.

A love of flowers and gardening has motivated my work in the past and will continue to do so. I am also greatly inspired by contemporary design and suspect my work will reflect this as it evolves.