I graduated from Michigan State University in 1976, earning a BFA with a ceramics major and a jewelry minor. After completing a semester of graduate work at MSU, I transferred to Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.
I graduated with an MFA in Ceramics from Claremont Graduate School in 1979, where I studied under Paul Soldner and visiting artists he would invite to teach for a semester – Betty Woodman and Jun Kaneko. After graduation I maintained a studio in “Little Tokyo” Los Angeles until it was lost to urban renewal. While searching for a new studio, I explored other creative outlets – hand painted fabric, jewelry and stained glass. This exploration influenced and broadened a new approach to my work in clay. In west Los Angeles, I found a perfect location for living and creating. My new studio provided an opportunity to teach the joy of working in clay. I discovered I liked teaching very much as it affirmed my knowledge about the craft and art of making beautiful pots or sculpture.
For me clay is mesmerizing, frustrating, informative and transcendent. I enjoy exploring with different techniques and methods, some complicated and others quite simple such as making a humble pinch pot.