I’m a ceramic artist located in southern California. I have been making ceramics for over a decade. I was a Human Anatomy and Biology professor before I worked with clay. Many of my pieces have botanical themes that hint at my love of the natural world. I like to make whimsical, colorful, functional pots and Judaica for the home. These include mugs, vases, pitchers, menorahs, Shabbat candlestick holders, and more. My goal is to create functional, and visually interesting items that can stand alone as art pieces when not in use.

I was a student of the wonderful ceramic artist, Birdie Boone in Cohorts.Art 2024 and ‘25, and my work has been in Ceramic Monthly.

Artist Statement:

“My practice is process driven. I make colorful, evocative, often botanically-themed functional ceramics to be used in the home and Jewish rituals that arise largely from investigation, formal play, and problem solving. In my “lab,” I experiment with color, construction, and texture/markings primarily made with plants and found objects. I’m interested in different ways to layer and create depth, and alternative ways to arrive at a form. To explore this, I build intuitively with what look to be deconstructed pieces of a former pot, creating a patchwork that blossoms into form. During this alternate way of building, I continually discover exciting structural and aesthetic problems to overcome that propel me forward in my work.  I’m even more interested in how color combinations and texture can elicit emotion, and I explore this using combinations of terra sigillata, glaze and underglaze in often intense and saturated colors on brown stoneware searching for a visceral response, like that excited feeling I get when I look at the contrast of an orange Californian poppy against the bright blue sky. For texture, I use plants to create subtle, unique markings whose origins are not always obvious. They also remind me of the beauty and connection I discovered in nature during my time as a biologist. Similarly, my Judaica pieces are personal: I make them to create a ritual object I connect with, that is interesting and beautiful, and that can stand alone as an art piece when not in use.”