Life as a Full-Time Ceramic Artist

As a full-time ceramic artist, my work is rooted in the practice of creating useful pottery that enhances small, meaningful moments in life. Working primarily on the wheel, I shape each piece with the intention of bringing beauty and utility into everyday experiences.

Whether it’s a mug with a perfectly thin rim and a handle that feels like an extension of your hand while cradling your morning tea, or a bowl that holds a shared meal, my pottery invites a pause—a moment to savor simplicity and connect to the present.

I am deeply inspired by the complexities of small towns like Black Mountain, NC, where my studio is nestled, as well as West Glacier, Montana, and Southwest Harbor, Maine, where I was raised. The intimacy of being accountable to each and every neighbor in a small town informs my approach to both life and art. I believe in paying attention to the present moment, to the smaller parts of life that often go unnoticed, and my work reflects this mindfulness.

Owning a hundred-year-old brick-and-mortar storefront in the heart of historic downtown Black Mountain allows me to weave together my joy of creating pottery with the honor of being part of the downtown business community. This space not only serves as a place to showcase my work but also as a connection point between my art and the people who live in and visit our town.

The process of making my own glazes from scratch allows me to connect with the materials on a fundamental level, ensuring that each piece is not only unique but also an expression of my commitment to sustainability. As an environmental activist, I am conscious of the impact my work has on the planet and strive to create in a way that honors and protects our natural resources.

My journey as a full-time artist, and specifically into pottery, began as an adult. Growing up in such a rural area, we didn’t have art classes of any sort. I took my first pottery wheel class in 2010, in my early thirties, originally signing up to meet people in my new town of Black Mountain and to find stress relief from my professional life as a Buddhist-trained Eco-Chaplain (a field I coined and founded). I continue to work as an activist for environmental justice, but I now make a living as a potter and get to do chaplaincy on the side.

My spiritual path has deeply influenced my art, infusing it with a sense of purpose and reverence for the moment. Through my work, I hope to offer others a vessel not just for food or drink, but for reflection, connection, and presence. I love making useful vessels from raw earth. Even after all these years, I find the process to be nearly miraculous.

I bring my sense of awe and joy into each final piece by utilizing the raw clay as part of the final production. Each piece I make is fired in an oxidation process, with at least some raw clay revealed to create both textural and visual nuance. The idea is to bring that meditative process into our daily life through the creation of basic forms we need to survive: vessels to eat on, forms to store food in, and shapes to drink from.