Fine Art Painter & Ceramicist.

Creating art has always filled my spirit. It's what I was born to do. I'm an artist and a gardener. I studied painting, figure drawing, printmaking, and sculpture at the Art Academy of Cincinnati from 1975 to 1979. After graduation, I received the Wilder Traveling Scholarship and spent four months camping across the U.S., visiting National Parks. I was drawn to landscapes: mountains, rock formations, and ancient petroglyphs I came across while hiking. When I returned home, I began teaching printmaking at Tiger Lily Press. I continued to do printmaking as well as weaving. Many years later, I began to do ceramics self taught and later took a few classes. 25 years later, I am still doing ceramics, specializing in ceramic sculpture.

Gardening has inspired me since I was twenty. The light on the plants, the forms of flowers, the birds that come and go. I'm still moved by nature and the cycle of life that we're all a part of. I have always been pulled by making gardens and making art, but now I know they feed each other.

My latest paintings were inspired by a trip to France, where I taught a workshop in Provence. I was taken by the color and light of the countryside, and the old shepherd houses. Next year, I may teach in Portugal. I'm curious to see what comes of that.

My sculptures are rooted in a growing concern for nature. One series came from reading about old redwoods being torn down-and the life that lives in those trees. Birds losing their homes.

It's happening everywhere. I want people to be more aware of it. I've been experimenting with my own glazes that resemble natural growths-like bark, lichen, and moss-as a way of honoring what's being lost.