A bit about me
Ever since learning to use a potter's wheel in high school I was hooked. I had already decided that working with clay was my path and looked for college programs with a good ceramics department. I got my BFA from UW-Stout with a concentration in ceramics but after I graduated I felt like I needed to get on my own feet and didn't really know how to start, so I took a job with G.E.. I had intended to stay for only 2 years, luckily I was laid off after 5 during the 2009 recession. I promptly jumped back into making pots thanks to another potter generously letting me use part of his studio. After a couple months I got my own space at a group studio which then led to my next two jobs. For about 2 years I worked at a production pottery in MPLS making various production pieces and working in the gallery. Later I got a job working at the handmade tile company where I made tiles and became lead in the glaze department.
Eventually my then-boyfriend-now-husband (Jake) built me a studio in the basement of our early 1900's house in Saint Paul, it was 6ft tall by 6ft wide by 18ft long and I loved it but we are both self employed and out grew our little house in the city.
After much dreaming and looking we decided to build our own home on raw land, when I say build I mean with our own hands (my husband is a carpenter). At the time we sold our house in Saint Paul my daughter was just under 6mo old, we bought an old park model camper to live in while we built and the adventure had truly begun. Now here I am 6yrs later after a lot of work and countless setbacks, making pottery in my own studio, raising a kiddo and some sheep. We are trying to live as sustainably as possible. When we designed our home, we decided to run everything using battery based solar, with no grid connection at all. We heat with a gasifying wood boiler, using primarily dead fall and framing lumber scraps. In the winter the days are too short so we occasionally supplement with propane. I single fire my work in a wood kiln Jake and I built because our solar system can't handle firing an electric bisque kiln. It has taken some time to master the process but there is always something new to learn.
I make small batches of refined pottery for daily use. Each piece is made with care and the intention to bring the user joy and comfort. I make for the moment when someone picks up one of my mugs and doesn't want to put it down, that moment is when I feel I have a place in the world and that is what keeps me ever striving to make better pots.
