About... my perfect day in the studio
My perfect day begins with a walk to "work," following a trail along rocky beach bluffs and up through a small stand of Monterey Pines on the way to the studio. After nearly four years here on the central coast of California, I am still in awe of it all. Every day here is a gift.
The walk ends at a converted 100-year-old one-room schoolhouse (now my studio) in Cambria, a small artist colony off of Highway 1 before it heads north to Hearst Castle on its winding route toward Big Sur.
I open the studio doors, turn up some tunes and immerse myself in a flurry of making. Warming up at the wheel, I throw a few bowl forms and then concentrate on making sections of a large vessel. Leaving them to firm up, I go to my etching table and map out imagery for a new form.
Turning the form, I roughly plan out blocks of color and layered illustrations that will be cut into the clay, creating woodcut-style decoration. I love this process of layering imagery, the putting on and taking off through etching pattern into blocks of color.
Since moving here, my work has changed dramatically, going from earthenware and majolica to stoneware and woodcut-style images. The "Woodcut Series" features images of the ocean, the forests, the meadows... plants, pines, frogs, birds, fish, bees, butterflies, shells, sea and surf.
Before discovering clay, I owned a regional design and marketing firm for many years. Venturing into a community ceramics workshop 15 years ago, I soon found my creative outlet becoming obsession and my journey in clay began.
I have attended ceramic intensives at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlingurg, TN; Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, NV, and Mendocinco Art Center, Mendocino, CA. I've participated in workshops led by ceramic artists Nick Joerling, Suze Lindsay, Lana Wilson, Peter Beasecker, Linda Arbuckle and David Wright.
WHERE TO SEE MY WORK:
ONGOING:
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art • San Luis Obispo, Ca
Select pieces available online at the museum's online store: San Luis Obispo Museum of Art
Studio Gallery
at the Old Schoolhouse
880 Main Street
Cambria, Ca 93428
2012 Juried Exhibitions and Shows include:
Ink and Clay 38 – March/April 2012
Kellogg University Art Gallery
Cal Poly, Pomona, Ca
2011 Juried Exhibitions and Shows include:
Ink
and Clay 37 – March/April 2011
Kellogg University Art Gallery
Cal Poly, Pomona, Ca
2011
Teabowl National – June 2011
KC Clay Guild, Kansas City, Mo
Potters
Fest – July 2011
Orcas Island, Eastsound, Wa
Dining
In IV: An Artful Experience – August 2011
18 Hands Gallery
Houston, Tx
