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 up until then had ever captivated me like clay. I spent the first 6 months struggling and obsessed with learning the wheel. I consider myself extremely lucky that 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.

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 understand the business side of things, and that has proved absolutely fundamental in making a living as an artisan. I began to understand the local market for handmade goods, and could see how the shops communicated their needs to our studio, and how we adjusted our output to suit the market. Again, a very important lesson.

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

My work has evolved through many different phases and styles over the last 30 years, and each wave has built upon my skills and passion from the prior phase. I fire electric and my fascination with glaze and surface seems to be the common thread through each phase.

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 addition with anoutdoor space for my kiln. I love the freedom of working from home and being in a vibrant, culturally diverse city in the magically beautiful Southwest.

I’ve spent the last 30 years of my life devoted to this craft, and always finding ways to support myself in these creative endeavors. Now, at 56, 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.