About

I’m originally from Cincinnati Ohio, and moved to very small town in south central Kentucky with my mom at the age of 12. I was extremely fortunate that my high school had a decent art department, and I touched clay for the first time in 1999, when I was 15 years old. It stayed with me ever since. I moved from KY to Dallas TX in 2011 to work on my MFA, and right after graduating moved to a Phoenix AZ, where I’ve resided since 2014. Since Oct. 2016, I’ve worked from a home studio owned by a friend and fellow potter, and rent a small apartment from her right above the studio. I live there with my partner Liam, who moved here October 2019 from Connecticut. I quit my day job with MAC Cosmetics in October 2018, and have been a full time, self employed potter ever since.

Education

I graduated in 2008 with my BFA in ceramics from Eastern Kentucky University, and from the University of Dallas in 2014 with both an M.A. and M.F.A. I make both functional pottery, and sculptural work.


Artist Statement
I draw inspiration for my work from the oddities and mysteries found in the natural world; microscopic organisms, unusually shaped or textured seeds and pods often small and overlooked by most, fungi, lichens, and carnivorous plants. I’m fascinated by their growing process, the evolution of how they came to be, the mystery of what might be inside something such as a seed pod when cracked open, or what might be growing from a dead and decaying tree. Rather than trying to recreate these objects completely, I lightly reference their unique textures and forms in my functional, intending it to appear like it could have grown right there on the forest floor. I want to create that same excitement and curiosity in the viewer that I myself have when exploring the environment around me.
I work in clay because I love the intimacy of such a malleable material. It is a meditative and therapeutic process that puts me in direct contact with the earth that gives me my inspiration. 

Images:

Shameless selfie -2020

Liam and I - Vermont 2019

My bestest bud Zazz, with his bestest bud - 2020