I fell in love with art at the age of 12—in Mr. Rinegar’s art class in Los Alamos, New Mexico. I couldn’t wait to get to class and see what we would do. I also fell in love with Frank Lloyd Wright—his purity of design and deep connection with Nature.

But what was the medium that would stick with me? Through the years I tried watercolor (too hard) and I had a knack for pencil sketching, but that was too plain. During a dry time in my professional life, I saw a newspaper advertisement for a pottery class in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I was living at the time. The minute my hands touched clay I knew I had found the medium. Or maybe clay had found me? I am a hand builder. I don’t sit at the wheel and make round things. I tried it, but it hurt my brain. And I was very bad at it. A hand builder makes an even slab of clay and cuts it up and makes it into things. I like to make square boxes. I’ve been drawn to boxes all my life and making them makes my brain happy. I make plates and some round things, but I always start out with a flat slab. Over the years I made a lot of boxes, alive with color and texture. I got my own kiln. Eventually I ran out of relatives to give the boxes to, so I started to sell them at farmers’ markets, first in Las Cruces, then in Colorado Springs where I moved in 2019 after retiring from a career in medicine and medical education. My daughter and her family drew me there. Not long after, they moved to Canon City (they purchased the old Fitness Factory). After two years, I followed them again. I’ve been here since May of 2023. The gorgeous color of the dirt and rocks inspired the name of my pottery business—Red Earth Ceramics. No wonder that my favorite clay is reddish.