I enjoy the process of designing and then making, whether it be a handmade quilt, the summer garden or coffee mugs for the kitchen. I have had my hands in clay for 50 odd years, experimenting with many ceramic processes, including high fire stoneware, wood fire, raku, pit firing, and low fire majolica. Currently my focus is on stoneware, oxidation-fired in an electric kiln. I want my pieces to be functional: made for everyday use, durable, pleasing to hold, interesting to look at.
My husband and I live on the outskirts of Spring Green, where we have remodeled an old shed into a light-filled, pleasing space in which to work. In the summer, I enjoy a view of the garden out the studio windows.
Before moving to Spring Green, I lived in rural Kansas for 40 years. I started out as an apprentice in a local clay-mixing/pottery studio, gradually developing my knowledge and skills. In 1989, my husband and I built a propane cross-draft kiln in our old livestock barn, and I opened my own studio, Spring Branch Pottery.
My aesthetic is rooted in the many years of living in rural Kansas: the colors and textures of native grasses, the faded barn wood, the chipped crockery found in almost every farm kitchen. It is also rooted in my travels and experiences in Colorado and Utah, where the beauty of the rock is unsurpassed. If you spend even a short time in my home, you will notice the window ledges are covered with rocks from all my travels.
In my past life: I returned to college when I was 45 to become an art teacher, but one thing led to another. Following a stint in grad school at Wichita State University, I worked in an elementary school for 13 years as a speech language pathologist. This allowed me the summers to continue to work in ceramics. After retiring from that job, a local college opened a ceramics position, resulting in 3 years of experience teaching college students and sharing my love for making pots. I exposed my students to raku and to traditional low fire burnishing and pit firing. This period also helped me explore the world of cone 6 electric firing, valuable when I moved to Spring Green.
Recently I have been experimenting with carving into clay, combined with my past work in Majolica, to add more color to my pieces. I enjoy setting aside time to break away from production work and truly play with ideas.