I have been interested in clay as an expressive medium since childhood when I modeled anatomically accurate figures out of the clay found on our farm in Rowan County. Since such a thing was unheard of in the area, this pursuit was not encouraged. No one that I knew could supply details about firing, etc. that were necessary to preserve these pieces.

It was not until I entered college and took a beginning sculpture course that I had my first significant encounter with clay. From there I moved "up" to welding, plastics, plaster and other "proper" sculptural media. Looking back over the things I did at that point of my life as an artist, I had begun making pot-like forms-just not using clay to do it.

During the last semester of my undergraduate career I signed up for Beginning Ceramics (just in case I would ever need to teach the subject. After the first kiln load was inspected I realized that my future in 3-D art would always involve clay. It was the first time that I understood that I had something significant to say in an art form. At that point I knew that I wanted to do graduate work in the ceramic field. Since then, I have been totally committed to clay as my medium of choice.

I have made almost every kind of pot since then-but now I have specialized in making only those forms that interest me the most: the bowl, the platter, the teapot and a few other kitchen ware forms. Mostly I work using porcelain. I am interested in forms of surface decoration that minimize the need to make decisions after the pieces have been bisquit fired.

I take occasional "vacations" using hand dug local earthenware or Raku clays-sometimes for months at a time-but I always seem to be drawn back to the charm of porcelain.

I feel that my most important mission at this point of my life is to share the knowledge I have accumulated since 1963 when I had my first formal introduction to clay. The information available then was close to nothing and there were few potters anywhere to associate with. Today we have a large army of young potters who are doing exciting things. Best of all, I am still learning from them!