PinkkissPottery

My first introduction to ceramics was when I was a little girl living outside of Philadelphia and my mother signed us up for this class a lady taught out of her basement where she would cast plaster mold figurines in slip and we would clean them up and paint them. She fired them in her kiln and we took them home when they were finished.

I loved art processes and ended up taking a Raku class at Tyler School of Art on the weekends while I was in high school. At the time I thought I would become a photographer and ended up attending the Maryland Institute College of Art to earn my degree. I took a ceramics class for my elective and fell completely in love. I stayed in studio for hours and hours just learning to throw pots on the wheel. I also took an internship at the Baltimore Clayworks where I learned to mix glazes and fire the wood kiln.

I loved everything about clay but when I graduated I found myself without any of the studio resources to continue. My now-husband bought me my first pottery wheel as a birthday gift. I kept it in a corner of my tiny one bedroom apartment, bought myself a bag of clay and would throw pots, smash them up and throw them again just to keep my hands muddy.

Eventually we bought a house in a Baltimore city neighborhood which had the perfect basement for a small studio and kiln space. I saved up money from teaching after school art classes (I am a certified art teacher) to purchase my kiln and set up my working space.

Now I work as an adjunct professor of Art Education for Towson University, teach others to throw pots in my Sunday classes at the Baltimore Clayworks and sell my work through various galleries and craft shows throughout the region.

My work is about creating everyday ceramic objects rich with pattern, images and text, which spark the imagination of their user.

Hand building allows me to connect with the clay on an intimate level as each piece records the process of creation. The addition of slips and imagery is inspired by historical folk pottery found throughout the world yet speaks of my life and personal experiences living in Baltimore.