Process

My work is a celebration of the beauty of the human spirit and form. The pleasure that I experience moving my body in dancing, rollerblading, hiking and working is at the heart of my life with clay. It is my hope to create pieces of art that will speak about the awe and wonder of the human body. My life experiences and learning opportunities have lead me to creating sculptures that are sensual, sensitive, tasteful and unique. When patrons see my booth full of figurative work and the way that I have abstracted it, they are often awe struck.

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My work as a figurative sculptor is based upon the solid foundation of thirty years working with clay as my primary income. Design considerations and material handling experience involved in metal fabrication sculpture, bronze casting and jewelry fabrication also enhance my ceramic work. Ten years of anatomy training and practicing massage therapy has anchored a deep understanding of the body and how we move. I have learned structure and movement principles that are important to me as figurative sculptor through my studies in dance and a four year program in Feldinkrais Movement Studies. Dance studies include ballroom, jazz, Middle Eastern, African, country two step. The most important of these was the Middle Eastern dance experience, because of the isolation movements with different parts of the body, very precise body awareness develops. This awareness informs and influences the structure and appearance of my forms and compositions. Feldenkrais Movement Studies taught me that movement organized through the skeleton creates effortless, fluid, graceful movement. The understanding of structural integration and body awareness along with my accumulation of technical skills helps me to make the clay come to life.

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For the past fifteen years I have been working toward developing an excellence in classical style representational sculpture. I have been taking workshops in figurative sculpting with master sculptors and meeting other sculptors who share this passion for figurative sculpting. The enjoyment and satisfaction of working in my studio culminates as the forms, fluidity in design and textures come together into a successful piece. Rhythm, texture, and contrast are key elements of my design. An instructor once showed me how pushing the clay to its limits made the clay come alive. Stretching, thinning, distorting, pushing and pulling the clay is how I create fluidity and the feeling of movement in my pieces. I like to work with many different elements in each piece, creating a textural collage. These elements are assembled with hand building methods to create a very unique style. I began working with clay in 1976 making hand built coil pots to put into my hand tied macramé hangers. I started out with a small electric kiln on the back porch and the throwing wheel in a tiny spare bedroom. I worked on pottery while my toddlers were napping. Today, my electric wheel occupies a corner in my kitchen...but the kitchen door opens into a large studio with a large walk in gas kiln. I have gone from having 5 employees in 1989 to now doing all the work myself. I rebuilt my walk-in gas kiln in 2008 and am still working at streamlining my studio production to fit my current needs.

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I have exhibited my clay work at art shows throughout the country for the past thirty years, including the Uptown Art Show in Minneapolis Minnesota, Art on the Square in Madison, Wisconsin, numerous Chicago mall and street shows. For the past fifteen years I have primarily been marketing my clay work at Renaissance Festivals: Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas and currently Minnesota and Colorado. There are a few local galleries who are selling my work as well. I taught my first sculpture class “Sculpting the Head” in March of 2010 at Crossings Artist Center in Zumbrota and I am looking forward to doing more teaching in my studio and for other centers The methods and processes that I have developed are unique. There are many great teachers to thank for giving me pieces of the puzzle needed to accomplish my dream of being a ceramic artist and bronze sculptor. I have brought my own individual personality, interests, life’s experiences, dedication and exuberant energy together in my work to share my passion, my love for life and my appreciation of the human body.