I received a B.A. in Studio Art from Macalester College and an M.F.A. in painting from the University of Minnesota. While at Macalester I took an intensive course in bronze casting where I learned the "lost wax" method of creating a piece of art from visiting Professor Doug Hendrickson. Once the wax sculpture was finished it was concealed in plaster and fired in a kiln which left a void of the piece — hence the term "lost wax" — to be filled with molten bronze.

A friend who had just taken a workshop in pit-fired pottery from noted and gifted potter/expert, Molly Prier, urged me to take the workshop. I did and immediately was overjoyed at being introduced to this completely low-tech way to have the same rush of artistic experience I had so dearly missed over the years.

As a painter and sculptor, my work had been pictorial and subjective. They were meant —perhaps to be decorative — but also "meaningful."

Now I maKe vessels out of clay which Are functional objects meant to be beautiful but not necessarily "meaningful." It almost seems like plagiarism to reap the benefits of the painting the fire does on the pottery. In effect, I prepar the "canvas" for painting by fire. It is a relief to not have to come up with a visual idea myself but to entrust that to natural forces. Now I create as receptive an object as I can and let the fire do the rest!

The fire is not always kind to the potter, though. What you see in the photographs of my pieces — WORK — are the examples of the best results I have obtained. In COLLECTIONS, there are some of the pieces that others have already bought.