Artist Background

 

As a sophomore at Walkersville High, completing an art course was a requirement to graduate from high school.  I didn’t want to take music or drawing and painting so I signed up for ceramics, not knowing that I would become hooked and clay would take me into another direction in life.

My teacher (Daniel Neuland) began as he did every first day of class with a slideshow of past work of students and a few pieces of his own, followed with guidelines, projects, and the requirements for the course.  The next day he started with a demonstration of throwing on the pottery wheel which would become the foundation of my interest in ceramics.  What I had seen from his throwing seemed to be easy and effortless but was actually otherwise after having tried it myself.   Struggling for weeks, making 3-4 lb paperweights and things suited best for self-defense rather than art, I finally made my first pot, granted its walls may have been an inch or two thick and only about 3 inches tall but compared to previous attempts it was a winner.  It was all uphill from there and I began making vessels, pursuing the “perfect” bowl, and I also became obsessed with surface decoration using low fire glazes containing chunks of crystals that would melt and run down the side of the pieces.  The results were always different and mostly unforeseen.  I took ceramics every term after that until graduation in 2002.  During this time I apprenticed and worked with local potters briefly during work study programs.  Those artists include the renowned Bill Van Gilder, John Thies, and Joyce Michaud where I was the studio manager for Hood College.

Before graduation from high school, I was a recipient of the Maryland Distinguished Scholar Award for Visual Arts, a statewide scholarship.   I then applied to Towson University, having seen their studio during field trips to the pottery sale every year, where I was awarded the Presidential Portfolio Scholarship for my 4 years of study.  I stayed at Towson University receiving my Bachelors of Science in Art with a concentration in ceramics in May 2007. 

Much like my earlier work with crystal glazes, my current work focuses on firing methods that are, to a large degree, uncontrollable and unpredictable.  With Raku, the surface effects of my work are created by the touch of flames against the clay, combustible materials burning away leaving traces of where they touched.  I'm drawn to alternative firing methods which yield magnificent effects while running the risk of disappointment and breakage from thermal shock.