I cannot recall a time in my life when I did not yearn to create. As a child growing up outside Chicago I was often working on various crafts. I remember being very young, maybe even as young as four, hand sewing tiny pillows for my dolls with fabric scraps. Then I moved on to a needlework phase, followed by some more serious sewing as a teen. In high school and at the University of Illinois/Chicago I studied fine art photography, not venturing behind the door marked ‘ceramic studio’ even once. It literally did not interest me. I find that hilarious and absolutely mindblowing.

It wasn’t until after I’d graduated college in 1989 and moved into my first apartment that a friend convinced me to take an evening ceramics class at a community studio. Once I got in there, I was hooked. Nothing in my life had ever captivated me like clay. I spent the first 6 months struggling and obsessed with learning the wheel. Our instructor gave us hobbyists a very well rounded introduction to the ceramics studio. We learned to handbuild, wheel throw, pull handles properly, and mix and apply our own glazes. Now I know just how lucky I was to have such a solid foundation of skills from the get go.

I continued my studies under various instructors after I’d moved to the Southwest. A 2 year period of apprenticeship in a larger studio gave me the ability to structure the business side of things, and that has proved absolutely fundamental in making a living as an artisan.

After the birth of my son 1997 I began producing my own line of work from my makeshift garage studio, selling to the local tourist gift galleries and from 2004-06 I had my own studio gallery in Sedona, Arizona. That was the birth of Red Hot Pottery, which morphed into an Etsy shop, from 2006-2018, which morphed into this website!

I currently reside in Albuquerque, New Mexico and produce my work out of my home studio. I’ve got a sweet little setup—a 350sf studio addition with a outdoor space for my kilns. I love the freedom of working from home and being in a fun, culturally diverse city in the magically beautiful Southwest.

I’ve spent the last 30 years of my life devoted to this craft, and finding ways to support myself in these endeavors. Now, at 55, in some ways I feel like I’m just hitting my stride with my work and I eagerly dive in deeper every day.

Thank you for being here and following along with my journey.