Potter Diaries

I never imagined myself becoming a Potter. I’ve been trained in pastels & watercolors, experimented with sculpture, studied art history, and traveled abroad. As a result of my degree in Psychology & Counseling and my work with the intellectually disabled as well as my work as a trained Vision Therapist in the field of Developmental Optometry, I became increasingly interested in Art Therapy, or more particularly how to connect with pain and how to process grief through art mediums. When I was thrown headlong into the tragedy of my daughter’s sudden infant death, I immediately began working with an experienced Potter in my church community. She’s a French woman, a wife and a mother, who has been running her home-based business for 25 years; she opened up her studio to me at my own convenience and allowed me to quitely mourn while digging my hands into the clay and listening to music that ministered to my soul. I wasn’t learning then much about the craft itself- I was just immersing my pain into the clay body, expressing my need for connection through the process itself, forming my thoughts and ideas about making an urn for my baby girl. It was a strongly therapeutic experience for me, and my Potter Mentor advised that I pursue it as more than just an experience; she encouraged me to think of how I could connect it to my painful story and how I could use it to connect with others and help them process their own pain. I began to see then that being a Potter could be my life path for a while- that I could use pottery as a form of therapy for myself and others and use it as an avenue for understanding grief and God. So, here I am four and a half years after my daughter’s passing with my small batch pottery business, and I hope to make wares that tell a story, that remind people of hope, that reflect the work of God the Great Potter. If you would like to follow along with my journey, please sign up for monthly email updates (right side-bar menu) and stay tuned for my shop’s latest updates. Thank you for reading my story and for showing an interest in my work.

clay in the hands of the potter,