About
About the Artist
I received my BA in Archaeological Anthropology in 2012, and worked as an archaeologist for over a decade across New England, the Southwest, and the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya. My studies focused predominantly on human evolution and textile history. I acted as founder and host of The Woven Road podcast for many years, researching and sharing contemporary and prehistoric textile practices.
In 2018, I took my first ceramics lesson and immediately folded this passion into the context of the rest of my life’s work. As a lifelong fiction writer, ceramics has given me a new medium with which to tell stories; ones that lay in and around history, human ingenuity, trade relationships, landscape, and beyond.
I began an apprenticeship with Janet Lever-Wood in January 2023. I am extremely grateful to her for sharing her time, space, immense knowledge and experience, as well as her curiosity and friendship.
In January of 2024, I took over the community art studio Mountain Dog Arts, transforming the space and model into the San Juan Potters’ Guild. I am very proud of all this space has to offer to our little community in Ouray, Colorado, and look forward to the ways in which we will grow together.
About the Process
I consider myself a student for life, and therefore my focus is not on a singular process, but rather an exploration within the medium. I began working with commercial glazes and clays, and through the evolution of my curiosity, have begun to explore wild clay harvesting, atmospheric firing methods (ie reduction, soda, wood) and alternative firing like pit, raku, obvara and saggar. I see a welcome place to celebrate all styles and processes, as is reflected in the diversity of nature as well as in quotidian life. As such, I continue to work in all of the areas mentioned, dependent upon many factors such as access to wild materials, fire danger in my region, community firing events, and aesthetic goals.