Artist Statement

Largely self-taught, I am still learning to express myself through pottery and sculpture. Mostly I make animals; they are my totems, metaphors and brothers and sisters on the earth. I live and work in the Highlands, a forested area outside Victoria, BC. Nature and my students challenge, inspire and ground me.

Introduced to clay at an early age, I have danced with it for more than fifty years! During times of varied occupations, including child-rearing, sawmilling and truck driving, writing and social activism, clay has been a constant partner. The necessary rhythm of making, drying, firing, glazing and firing again help give structure and balance to my life.

It is a privilege to work in a craft and art which began with the beginning of human history and will last, at least as artefacts, into the far future. If I had three lifetimes I could give them all happily to clay work - the fascination of it, the demands, the frustration and finally, the downright miracle of turning mud into stone.