PersonalI am a native Floridian, raised in Palm Beach County. Starting at an early age, I have been a maker of things. Working with wood through my early teens and exploring clay in high school, led me to continuing art studies in college. During my university years, opportunities presented themselves for travel and cultural studies abroad. Upon returning to Florida in 1990, I founded my Lake Worth pottery studio and started pursuing a career in clay. In 1994, I opened "EarthArtists, studio ~ gallery ~ gifts”, in downtown Lake Worth. Soon after I became involved in curriculum based ”Arts Integration” through the Center for Creative Education (CCE) in West Palm Beach Florida. I am a certified teaching artist for the CCE where I facilitate teacher workshops, collaborate in the classroom with teachers on their curriculum and teach students how to integrate the arts into everyday learning. I continue to work out of my home-studio offering custom created pottery, architectural ceramics, restoration & repair and clay workshops.
Artistic Statement
Clay becomes my voice, my howl, my scream for diverse emotions, which otherwise I find difficult to articulate. Through clay, I can express abstract feelings of strength, power, freedom, being a woman, natural forces, etc. I want to reach inside and touch the soul of the viewer. As a woman, I am influenced by the reoccurring struggle between empowerment and powerlessness in our society. My ClayArt pieces are meant to express the beauty of feminine strengths and their connectedness to nature.
Professional Statement
As my career in the visual arts unfolds, I find myself drawn to collaborative projects that afford me an opportunity of creative learning. I continue to grow as an artist and human as I research concepts and ideas to be translated into a visual format. The challenge for me comes in creating a piece that will have sustainability in materials, emotional substance and will, in the end, celebrate our humanness.
Teaching, working and collaborating with teachers, artists, and students allows me to share and learn at the same time. I use these opportunities to challenge myself and those around me to grow creatively.
