Two events triggered my fascination with ceramics:
I “threw” my first pot on a potters wheel about 35 years ago.
I had the rare opportunity to hold in my hands a 5,000 year old ceramic vessel at the Freer Museum in Washington, D.C.

My enthusiasm for clay and creating pottery has grown through the years and has become more than a love - more like an addiction to an art form that is pliable, expressive and three dimensional.

Inspired by the natural beauty of San Diego County, some of my vessels include the incorporation of natural materials like pine needles semi-precious stones and natural fibers. Others are fired in the ancient Japanese Raku method, bringing forth a rainbow of color or metallic surfaces.

Just as the pottery of Neolithic times was both functional and decorative, I enjoy making vessels that can be useful but at the same time, aesthetically pleasing. My early training as a painter has had a strong influence on my use of color, which can be quite vivid.

A number of superb potters have had major impacts on my work, each one an expert and each one with a different approach to clay. While attending intensive workshops, I had the privilege of studying under Cynthia Bringle, Catherine Hiersoux, Tom Mason and Susan Holder, Bennett Bean, Toshiko Takaezu, Rudolf Staffel , Elsa Rady, Lana Wilson and Paul Soldner.

My pottery business, Studio M Pottery, was started in Washington, D.C., where I operated a pottery school for many years. Since moving to San Diego about 22 years ago, I have participated in numerous juried and group shows at the Bravo Gallery, Signature Gallery, Gallery 21 in Balboa Park and Gallery Alexander in La Jolla. My work has been shown at the Collector’s Gallery of the Mingei Museum and the Santa Ysabel Gallery near Julian, CA. and is in a number of private collections from Washington DC to Seattle.

My academic background includes a B.A. in mathematics and psychology, magna cum laude, from Brooklyn College, N.Y. This was followed by intensive study of painting in New York and ceramics in Washington D.C. and California.
May 2006