Hello, I’m a potter/ceramicist in Harrisonburg, VA, and I’m glad you found me! 

Most days, you can find me working while singing and dancing wildly in my backyard studio...no one’s caught me at it yet, knock on wood.

I like making beautiful things that people (often me, and my ever-patient partner) can also use. I like to carefully engineer my forms, preferring to test them out in my house for months before they make it out into the world. Thank you, Steve, for being ok with having a kitchen full of perpetually mismatched dishes.

My pottery is inspired by a lot of things, often plants and flowers I find in my yard or nearby, sometimes the amazing work of others, like Sarah Pike and Terre Ferme. I’m largely self-taught, but I’ve been lucky enough to have had some amazing teachers, all of whom have been a huge influence in what I make, and how and why I make it. If you love pottery, do yourself a favor and check out their work, they are amazing: Mark Wingertsahn, Bill Griffith, Mike Lalone, Gail Kendall, Lauren Karle, and Ellen Shankin.

I like to play with texture (especially raised texture) and glazes that do their own thing when you fire them. For me, pottery is a way to give up a bit of control in my life, and I see it as a collaboration between myself and the unseen, and often unpredictable, forces of nature that take place in the kiln. 

I work with mid-range stoneware, and a combination of commercial and homemade food-safe glazes. I like to work slowly, mostly handbuilding with slabs and coils, although I can throw on a wheel and sometimes do.

I live in a house near a park in Harrisonburg, VA with my partner, Steve, a sweet but skittish dog named Ollie, and a domineering cat named Fat Fat (who is the boss of all of us, and knows it). When I’m not in the studio, I work as a marketer and web designer, and in my free time I raise money for charity with VOICE Ensemble, act in the occasional play, and go on lots of walks in the park. My favorite restaurant in town is Xenia, and if you haven’t eaten there yet, you should. 

If you’ve read this long, wow, thank you! In fact, I’ll press my luck and ask you to follow me on Instagram, because I need more followers. And while you’re at it, shoot me a message and say hi!