About Me

I have always loved clay. Growing up on a South Texas Farm, I would dig up clay in the backyard and make “mudpies” giving my strange creations to family and friends. I also loved to go out into the fields and play in the dirt: especially after a good rain. I wanted to be a fashion designer when I grew up, and made many of my friends prom dresses and such, even a denim suit for my Dad. I was quite good at it, but once in my college years I decided my personality wasn’t a good fit for the fashion industry, and so I began to investigate other three-dimensional art processes.

                 I discovered the pottery wheel in my last semester as an undergraduate student at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and throwing became my biggest passion. I returned to SAIC for a Master’s in Art Education and then taught ceramics to all ages and abilities while showing my work in a variety of places through the years. Both my pottery and my teaching tended to be functional leaning towards the whimsical and I bet I made more potters than pottery. Because I married an academic, we moved around a lot, so I worked in 10 different ceramic community studios through the years owning 3 of them and then selling the first and second on to budding clay entrepreneurs before moving to the next place. 

            I arrived in Rhode Island with my husband and 2 daughters in the summer of 2015 and treasure the cool summers, beautiful seaside views, and local food and culture. It did not take long for me to find the Jamestown Arts Center and begin a path starting with managing and teaching in their clay studio to becoming an open studio renter and patron. After a 3 year spell of health problems, I finally had a lifelong heart condition corrected and recovered some of my health back. I turned to making “Clay-Scapes” out of clay and enjoy the quiet nature of this technique compared to the wheel. In 2022 Samara Monfette and I opened the Coastal Pottery Studio in the Shady Lea Mill in North Kingstown, RI. Turning our shared vision of a collective ceramic open studio for experienced clay artists has been a dream come true.

http://www.coastalpotterystudio.com