My aunt Betty had a ceramics studio in Roslindale, MA when I was a youngster. I have cherished memories of my mom and I working together to paint holiday and household pieces. Back then, those huge spoon and folk wall hangings were a cool addition to anyone’s kitchen wall! I still display the numerous Easter and Christmas ceramics that we made together. When I was a teen, I began teaching children at the studio on Saturday mornings and that’s when the bug hit me!

I am a hand builder at heart. I love the ability to roll out a slab of clay and, using various methods and textures, create a piece of functional art.

The seashore is my inspiration and many of my pieces include clay versions of sea life, including starfish, crabs, lobsters, and shells.

The greatest joy that creating pottery brings me is to be able to craft items that reflect my passions. Once such major joy is the seashore. As resident of Rexhame Beach in Marshfield, MA, I have always appreciated the beauty of the sea’s many treasures. Sea glass, shells, weathered driftwood, and polished stones are some of the items that I collect, and which have inspired me as an artist. As I design each unique pottery piece, I try to incorporate the shapes, textures, and hues of life by the sea. No two pieces are ever exactly alike!

Each sea-inspired piece of functional art is embellished using imprints of actual shells, starfish, and other sea-life that I’ve found on the beaches of our South Shore, as well as from my travels to islands and abroad. My pieces can be created in a variety of shapes and sizes, including rectangular, round and oval platters, bowls, mugs, soap dishes, etc. All pieces are hand-built using stoneware clay and finished with a variety of food-safe glaze combinations.

For me, striving to fine tune my process. Being as efficient as possible with my time and materials and still have a quality product in the end.

But I also think my biggest draw is I love it when we have our sales and I see people picking out a piece. I kind of feel like “Oh! It’s up for adoption!” It’s so nice to see it find its new home. I really get joy knowing people are using my pieces.

A big challenge for me is the timing. Having things dry out too quickly or not dry fast enough is one of those things I’m fine-tuning. It’s tricky to complete a piece before it says, “I’m too dry.”

It’s also challenging to fit it all in – work, family, pottery. Trying to balance the needs of a busy family schedule and a busy work schedule and then also carve out time for me. It’s so important to have that quiet, creative time.

The joke is that pottery gets you centered. But it really does. I find it very meditative just to sit down with a lump of clay and see what you can make with it.

NEED PHOTO OF THIS: This piece originally was going to be a piggy bank. Then I put it in my damp box and I forgot about it. Maybe 6 months later I opened that box and I found it. The piece was still workable so I was able to re-hydrate it enough and turn it into a lidded jar. It was a little too dry to attach a handle so I had to think about how else I could make a handle or a knob on the lid. It took me in a very different direction than I normally would have gone. I ended up using some glue, some wood, some wire, and it took me into more of a sculptural route. It was something I had never done before. And when it came to glazing I was inspired by geology. I had just picked up a new glaze that reminded me of snowflake obsidian. And it looks just like snowflake obsidian in the end. It was a fun process – one that I’ve never repeated, but I always mean to.