BFA, McMurry University, 1990

COURSES TAUGHT:

Ceramics

TEACHING STATEMENT:

As a teacher, it is my responsibility to expose my students to as wide a variety of images and ideas as possible, and to encourage them to make personal interpretations. The relationship with my students is an effort to establish myself as a competent teacher and a thought-provoking advocate of the ideas presented in my courses. I try to foster a classroom environment that is conducive to the free exchange of ideas, yet structured enough to see that the best of these ideas come to fruition. I do everything I can to tap my student's internal drives, spark introspection, and help them develop content based on their personal experience.

After working on the assignments presented in my classes, students should have a better understanding of how the underlying principles of design and subject apply to the work of other artists. This awareness should strengthen their command of these concepts so that they may effectively use them to enhance their own ideas.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT:

As a biology major in college, I took a ceramics class and was instantly hooked. I studied clay with Don Ellis as an undergraduate, and postgraduate with Elmer Taylor. Don and Elmer are very much a part of the Leach tradition, and from them I learned the love of well-crafted pots of purpose. I was also fortunate enough to study briefly with James Watkins. He encouraged me to explore surfaces and materials much more extensively and to expand my ideas about the concept and utilization of the vessel form.

Artistically, I draw from a variety of influences. As a child I was surrounded by traditional arts. My father was a cabinet and furniture maker. Both my grandmothers were excellent quilters, a tradition my eldest sister still carries on. I love the mix of culture in the American Southwest, and elements of the region's folk art often find their way into my work.

While I enjoy occasional forays into more sculptural work, it never strays far from its basis in the vessel form. I get a great deal of satisfaction from making objects that enter and enhance the daily lives of others.