I became interested in pottery after college when I was living back in my home town. I took a hand building class and loved the creative process. Many years later I decided to try again and found Potters Place. I took lessons there for a few years and then became a member. As a member I enjoy spending time practicing my hand building and wheel throwing techniques.

I get inspired by many things I see in life. I pull from memories, places, suggestions, curiosity, and whimsy!

I love the texture, getting dirty, seeing something be created out of a lump of clay, and mostly the single focus on the clay and learning from it. I find it amazing how anything can be used as a pottery tool.

What I like most about (working) playing with clay is that there is a relationship between the potter and the clay - more of a corroboration of sorts. Sometimes the clay does what it wants to and sometimes it will do what you are asking it to do. A lesson in "letting go".

The process of creating functional pieces from a ball or slab of clay is so rewarding and the entire process is therapeutic and relaxing. I have been working on some pieces whose shapes and glazes create a look of movement.

I also enjoy trying new textures, glaze combinations and different types of clay bodies.

This piece is from my first raku firing and I think it came out pretty well. I like the crackled finish of the glaze and the blackness of the clay as contrast.

The next photo is of a piece that I also like a lot. Unfortunately I have not been able to reproduce the color of the glaze effect. I think the results are wonderful and I’m glad that I have this piece to enjoy.

One of the things I enjoy about being a member is having the time to test my curiosity and, if the results are not what I expected, then I learned something new. For example, I have been trying new shapes and glaze combinations and some turned out better than others.

This ties in with one of my greatest challenges in pottery - letting go of the expectation that a piece will turn out the way I had intended it to. It's a lesson I have also applied to life in general, which is an on-going challenge in the world as we now know it.