I am a studio potter working in the Appalachian region of North Carolina.
Throughout my career, I have focused on making functional stoneware using a variety of reduction glazes. The majority of my work through the years has been thrown by hand on the potter’s wheel, with additional pieces made by shaping sheets of clay over static forms. I enjoy the meditative repetition of working quietly in my studio as well as the opportunity to create and modify designs that later become part of the daily experience of my patrons.
Several years ago, I relocated my studio into a quiet corner of downtown Morganton, NC, and opened a gallery featuring my work and that of other local and regional artisans. While the gallery has enjoyed success, I have found it challenging to balance the dual roles of gallerist and ceramic artist. Often the development of my work has taken a back seat to the demands of commerce. The events of 2020, while catastrophic, afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with studio work for days on end, and I found renewed vigor in my love of the craft. The isolation also created an opportunity to think and to consider the arc of my work through the decades. I realized that many of the ideas and designs I aspired to create early in my career remain, as yet, unrealized.
As the world begins to reemerge, a greater portion of my time is devoted to studio work and developing new designs—both within the genre of functional pottery and outside of it.