Sometimes I joke and tell people I play in mud all day, but in reality playing in clay is very rewarding to me. I begin with a lump of clay and in a matter of minutes it begins to resemble something…a cup…a vase…a plate. But in actuality, it isn’t even until the process of painting the design on the piece that it really begins to take on a new life - one that conveys what I am trying to say. The primary focus of my work is fun, cheery, bright, colorful pottery. Each piece is made individually either on the potter’s wheel or by hand building from rolled out slabs of clay or extruded clay. My favorite clay is porcelain. Porcelain can be a difficult clay body to work with, but I feel the end result is well worth the struggle.

After I throw or build the piece, in many cases I will fire it in the kiln as to not break it when I am painting it. It then becomes hard so I can hand paint it with three coats of color. I like bold, bright, intense color so I paint on three coats as to not have a washed out look. Raised dots and stripes are applied to add an element of playfulness and expression to each piece. The piece is fired a second time to allow the colors to be baked into the clay so they will not run when glazed. When the piece has cooled it is dipped into a transparent glaze and re-fired a third time to about 2200 degrees.

My hope is that my pottery is not only fun to look at but that you will enjoy finding ways to use it everyday!