Why ceramics?

I found clay after years playing in all different mediums. It almost felt like the last art I had tried by the time I sunk my hands into it. At the time I was enrolled as a painting and drawing major at PSU and ceramics was an electives class. It was an instantaneous pivot. The irony of ceramics being a late discovery for me is that I grew up playing in the dirt on my family's property in Pennsylvania and working in the family landscaping business. So in reality, it was my first medium!

For me, ceramics answer real needs. It is the art of connection and facilitation. There is an ancestral joy that comes alive when I work- to know that pottery is as relevant now as it was thousands of years ago because it speaks to being a human. My work is about uplifting the connections we have to our food, home, land, family and communities. Pottery is an art that elevates everyday life by adding handmade beauty to the mundane. I think there is something very sophisticated in living that way.

What books or music is inspiring you right now?

I listen to a lot of Audio books in the studio. 

Recently: 

Books: The Diamond Cutter- Geshe Michael Roach, Joe Dispenza - Becoming Supernatural, Clarissa Pinkola Estes- Mother Night 

Poetry: anything and everything David Whyte   

Music: Currently: Yaima, Rising Appalachia, Maggie Rogers, Khruangbin, The Human Experience, 

What is a challenge you have experienced that ended up being pivotal in your growth as an artist?

After graduating college I finished a two year apprenticeship with a master potter in Virginia. Not yet sure where I wanted to build my career, I answered a facebook post from a very well known ceramic artist in the Bay Area who I followed. She was moving out of her studio and gallery in downtown Berkeley, CA, and all I knew was that I wanted it! I flew across the country to interview for the spot and got it. I think my blind faith and enthusiasm gets me far, but I honestly had no idea how this was going to work out. It took a few years to get on my feet there, but it turned out that establishing myself in the Bay Area was a great move. 

If you could have a superpower for just one day, what would it be?

I still want to fly, I don't think my inner child will ever let go of that fantasy.