I always took art classes in junior and senior high school - not drawing, but anything that involved “making”. This included pottery, jewelry making and even wood shop. I loved it all but never really considered going to art school or making it a career.

Recently I found a newspaper article of myself and a friend with our 5th grade teacher taking pottery classes which I had completely forgotten about. So I guess it started further back than I remembered.

Flowers! Anything to do with flowers. I’ve had people tell me to try to think of something else but I always come back to flowers.

Unfortunately my painting skills are limited so I find other ways to use them including stencils, transfers, and carving. You have to go with what speaks to you.

I love both handbuilding and wheel throwing. I see pieces in the studio or on line and I think “I want to make that!” Unfortunately there is so much inspiration and so little time.

I love using texture and finding things that are surprising - things you might never think could be used in pottery to bring it to life.

Transfers are my favorite way of decorating pieces. I love taking different designs and images from different sheets and making a single scene or pattern.

A lot of my time is spent playing tennis and now making pottery. Both of these are things you never seem to truly master. There’s always more to learn and improve.

In the past, I would often give up on something if I wasn’t good at it right away. To keep going and learning, even when I think “I’m just not that good at this” is a big step for me. Pottery has helped me learn to just let go - to wait and see what happens.

For me, it’s only one word: Calm. Believe it or not, pottery calms me.

Letting the clay take the lead!

I’ve always loved math, took math classes in college even when I didn’t have to! Math is finite. Clay is not. There are many ways to manipulate clay and you just have to go with the flow. Yikes - that doesn’t fit my mathmatical mind!

I’ve learned from other Potters Place members that there are different ways to reach an end result. They can all be the “right way”. Find whatever works for you.

… that I’ve never done any of this before. Not that my stuff is great, but that I like it so much and I’m here doing all of this.

Pottery has never been part of my life until one day in Walpole in 2019. I remember sitting outside the old Potters Place studio in Walpole before my very first day of class and I’m texting my friends – what do I think I’m doing here? My heart was pounding. I can’t believe I’m going in there to do this. They responded: Just go! It will be fun. And now I just love it!

This pitcher makes me happy because it’s the biggest thing I ever made. It had a lot of different facets to conquer. It’s the first piece I’ve made that I looked at and said “I really like that!”