I have been a full time working Potter making ceramics, selling and teaching for over 30 years. I had just moved to Portland Maine and I knew no one. My wonderful landlady, Lisa Bonarrigo, asked if I would like to help her out by taking a wheel throwing class she was teaching. I was her first student. Lisa eventually went on to buy what is now Portland Pottery. During this time in my life, it never occurred to me at that time that I would be a working artist. Art had no presence in my life up to that point. Rural Maine in the 1970’s, where I had spent my teen age years, had a very different atmosphere. So off I went with no expectation in mind. The moment I opened that first box of clay, took in the wonderful earthy smell and squished it between my fingers, I knew this was something special!  I went home that day and for the very first time in my life I declared that I wanted to be a potter. For me, it was that simple. I continued taking classes with Lisa until I moved to Nashua NH in 1986. I found the Nashua Center for the Arts and I took more classes. I found ways to learn even when I had no money for classes. I pestered people and worked hard to learn how to become a better potter. I never wavered in knowing this was the right path for me. I had an unquenchable passion for making work, being with the community of fellow dirt lovers, and finding homes for these precious, hard won pots. I loved the shared struggle to get that cylinder to raise up thin and even. In this, I discovered I also had a gift for teaching those around me. I worked, learned and taught how to make pottery, how to put on shows, how to promote myself, and how to help others do the same. It gave me great pleasure to be of service to my fellow potters, artists and musicians. I created Mudworks Pottery Studio and furthered my career, never really thinking of myself as doing so. I was looking to teach and work in my own studio. My journey as an artist has been more of discovery, curiosity and unfolded opportunities then a formal education.  Most of all, I was helped by a very generous community.
I live my life with a deep love and respect for this world we live in. I realized early on I wanted to create work that was both useful and beautiful, giving beauty to the everyday living of our lives. To do that, I had to learn to know myself as an artist in order to bring that into my work. A pursuit that continues to bring delight and to challenge me!