I grew up in NYC, a child of immigrants who survived the Holocaust. When I began to draw even before I could write letters, my parents started taking me to museums and galleries. They enrolled me in the MOMA children’s painting class when I was 3, then the Met Museum of Art children’s painting class, and finally in the Art Students’ League watercolor class. I emerged with an intuitive sense of composition and color. I went to college and received a BA in Painting, completely unprepared for the realities of the art world.
I was never comfortable in NYC and always wanted to live near nature. So, after graduation I moved to Ithaca, N.Y. where I lived on a couple of communes and had several art-related jobs (including Cornell Daily Sun cartoonist). From there, I moved to Eugene, Oregon, for a BFA program in painting at the U. of O. During that year of intensive painting, I felt drawn to work with clay, specifically, the marriage of form and surface decoration. I was accepted into the MFA program in ceramics, where I learned how to dig my own clay, create my own glazes, and fire in several kinds of kilns. This unique program also opened my mind to the ideas of Paulus Berensohn, M.C. Richards, Jack Troy and many, many other artists who passed through our studio. Since that time, I’ve continued to be entranced by the ceramic process and have had my hands (and often more of myself) in clay. While I appreciate the foundation I received from all the academic art programs I attended, I’ve learned even more from the practice of making art in my studio, and working with other people, especially children.
Since moving to upstate, NY I’ve taught ceramics at the College of St. Rose, Hudson Valley Community College, as well as many other institutions. My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In 2011 I was invited to Gangjin, Korea to participate in an international exhibition at the Celedon Festival. Touring the potteries of Korea was a life-changing experience that continues to influence my work.
I very much miss having had a woman mentor, someone akin to my sensibilities and experiences. I consider my work in the tradition of women artists, those who lived with distraction, interruption, who were able to integrate their art into their lives (as well as the other way ‘round), and to persevere through many obstacles and difficulties. As we all come to terms with pandemic viruses, climate change, and the movement toward equal rights for all people, I am using the earth’s materials to express the values I cherish.
Copyright © 2023 Touchstone Ceramics - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy