Until 12 years ago I was an elementary teacher working with a reading program in a public school.  My four children had become adults and I decided to pursue my love of creating objects and telling visual stories.  In the past I had focused mainly on painting but by chance I took a figurative clay class from a nationally known narrative clay artist and I began telling stories with the ceramic people I made focusing on ordinary people with narratives that most of us could connect to one way or another.  With the pieces I create, my desire is to express common threads of the human experience by using the figure, imagery and gesture as powerful narrative tools.

The sculptures I create are done in an expressionistic style with subtle facial and body expressions  and surfaces that help build on the storyline using color, graphics, drawings and textures. Taking creative liberties I often exaggerate body proportions i.e., extra-long legs or oversized hands, and/or sometimes under emphasize other parts, like smaller head or feet.

Each piece is hand built using slabs or coils; shaping, altering and incising the surface.  The surface is a mixture of glazing techniques that are added in layers between several firings. Oxides are used in the final firing to bring depth and texture to the surface. Many of the sculptures have a line down the middle symbolizing the conflict within each person. While the line divides the textures, color and designs on the surface of the sculptures show the struggle to harmonize the differences between the two sides.

Recently I have revisited my roots in painting and focus on abstract impressionist figures.

My pieces have been exhibited in several Universities including Iowa State University, Central College, Coe College, Baker University, and Graceland University as well as special exhibitions at the Christian Petersen Gallery on the Iowa State Campus, Hillyard Gallery in Kansas City, Dubuque Museum of Art Biennial and more than one occasion and San Angelo Biennial Ceramics exhibit at the San Angelo Museum of Art. I have also participated in many fine art festivals  across the nation i.e. Des Moines Arts Festival, Cherry Creek Arts Festival in Denver, St Louis Arts Festival, Old Town Art Fair in Chicago, Plaza Art Fair in Kansas City, Art in the Pearl in Portland, Oregon, as well as many others.  My work has been represented by galleries at Sculptural Objects and Functional Art in Chicago, Seattle Art Fair in Seattle, and Palm Beach Art Fair in Florida.

My studio is at Mainframe Studios in Des Moines, Iowa