Born in 1961, I grew up on a working Pennsylvania Dutch farm 40 miles northwest of Philadelphia, PA. I spent most of my childhood outside in nature. When not working the farm, I spent hours constructing dams at the creek, building forts in the woods and hunting arrowheads in the fields after heavy summer thunderstorms. Around the age of thirteen, I met the potter I would eventually apprentice at a local craft show and convinced my father to help me build a kick wheel.

 

I have worked in clay ever since, eventually specializing in a type of folk pottery I have developed over the past twenty-two plus years. I call it "Church Key Pottery." By using a simple tool found in any kitchen of the past hundred years, I have devised a new form of traditional folk art. Continuously exploring, I have developed dozens of distinct patterns over the past three decades.

 

I am formally retired but will still play in clay (and the garden dirt) outside the home. I live in San Luis Obispo, CA with my husband Mark, our Corgi Sweet Pea, and our audacious cats, Bumble and Clover.