POTTERY
Sometimes it amazes me to realize that I've been making pots on and off for at least 40 years, fitting it into the spaces around career, family and other interests. In 2012 I decided to take early retirement to focus on my creative/artistic interests. Boxes of pots were starting to pile up; and with my aging knees, pottery and art fairs just aren't a good combo, I launched my Etsy shop in June of 2014.

I studied ceramics with Warren MacKenzie at the University of Minnesota. His approach to pottery resonated with me and has strongly influence my work since those early days. Warren and some students' work are sometimes referred to as the "Mingei-sota" style, influenced by Mingei pottery.

Note: Warren died at the age of 94 the last day of 2018. There's a nice write-up on the American Craft Council website: https://craftcouncil.org/post/remembering-warren-mackenzie

The pots I love to make and use are those that retain some of the fluid quality of the wet clay, show the hand of the maker, and often possess a "wabi-sabi" esthetic, where beauty and interest is seen in the imperfections. (See Wikipedia excerpt below.) Off and on I take classes or rent studio space at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm also a member of the Vine Arts Center, a member-run gallery in south Minneapolis.

BOTANICAL PRINTED TEXTILES
My creative energy has been "branching out" to botanical / eco printing and exploring natural dyes on textiles. I have always loved gardening, natural dyes, the beauty of leaves and patterns in nature, and eco printing brings all those elements together. In eco printing, the pigments and natural dyes in leaves are transferred to fabric by prolonged steaming or simmering in a dyebath.

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WABI SABI - Wikipedia:
Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete."

Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, asperity (roughness or irregularity), simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.

Wabi now connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object. Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.