My pots My pots are hand built and wheel thrown. The connection to ancient pot makers is present in both. Clay is the most primal of elements. It links to the rest: air, water and fire. It transcends time and space. My Gift of Flame Collection clearly has this right of passage.
         
However, being an artist I see the world as a series of potential art experiments. Sometimes it translates to a painting, a collage, a pot or a poem. I enjoy not being boxed in as simply a potter. Although my passion is for clay, I could never turn away from my creative spirit if it was formulating a project in another medium. Vegetal papermaking, collage (see Pottery Posters page) pen & ink drawings and recycled fabric clothing designs (see Pizzazz Purses page) are among my favorites.

I was schooled in ceramics at Notre Dame College in Manchester, New Hampshire where I was fortunate to study under Armand Szainer and Gerry Williams. Currently I teach Ceramics and other art courses at the Community College of Vermont in Rutland and work in my clay studio to produce pots for you. My pots can also be purchased locally from gift shops, farmer’s markets and craft fairs as well as by appointment at my studio in West Castleton, Vermont. Checkout my fair schedule on the Home Page.

Be sure to look for my potter’s mark on each piece of pottery you purchase. A potter’s mark is a signature symbol which potter’s in history stamped on each piece to their credit. I decided to resurrect this tradition rather than scrawl my entire name of every pot. My mark reflects the joy and energy I put into the pot as well as the joy I feel when it’s finished. It describes jumping up and clicking my heels together in joy. As in the drawing below illustrates, the circled portion became my mark.

Working with Head, Heart and Hands
Not only do my potter hands create, sustain and release energy into my world but they work with the same energy to sustain, elevate and bring joy to a world which suffers, struggles and searches for energy to renew and sustain life. For the past  8 years I have been a Rotary International volunteer with the Hands to Honduras project, a humanitarian effort born out of the devastation of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Yearly projects include repairing homes, building schools and medical clinics, teaching literacy and personal hygiene as well as installing water filters in Honduran homes. I have been fortunate to be able to use my hands to help build  5 schools, install water filters in several cliffside villages and assist the medical team in treating children and adults with a myriad of illnesses. I love my hands, my head and my heart for the good work they produce.
 
 
People who use their hands are called laborers.
People who use their head and their hands are called craftsmen.
People who use their hands, their head and their heart are called artists.
— St. Francis of Assisi