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I was born and raised in San Francisco. To introduce myself this way is
to say that the social and political streams of the San Francisco Bay Area
from 1950 - 1967 had a profound influence on me. My parents were social
activists. The Summer of Love happened in my back yard. I went to Cal
Berkeley. Influenced by the times, I went back to the land. I wanted to
make things by hand and in pursuit of this ideal, I became a potter. I
spent time at UC Santa Cruz in the early 70's when Al Johnsen, a protege
of Marguerite Wildenhain, ran a very comprehensive ceramic program there.
I learned the art and craft of being a studio potter. I worked in clay for
25 years, setting up my first studio in 1973. I stuck with purely
functional ware for many years until it no longer made sense to make one
more mug. I studied with many visiting ceramic artists at the Mendocino
Art Center. I made clay a more artistic medium for myself but it was hard
to stick with it after so many years. I finally drifted away from clay and
happily found myself spending alot of time at local beaches collecting
interesting natural castoffs such as driftwood, kelp, shells, beach glass.
I made my first Kelp Person in 1993. It came out of a sense that I would
create a regional artifact. I had a collection of hand made dolls from my
travels... horse hair figures from Chile, hand carved wooden figures by
aboriginals from Australia, woven dolls from Chiapas, ceramic figurines
from Greece, kachinas from the American southwest. The Kelp People became
my contribution to the figurative/primitive genre. Mermaids, driftwood
angels, guardians of such important facects of life as creativity,
nonlinear thinking or all Gods creatures are most recent.
My desire to make art comes from a desire to be joyful and share that
experience of joy with others. Art for me is about being playful, letting
my intuitive self run riot.
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