Biography

    I began working in metal in 1994 during my second semester at Skidmore College.  After three semesters of metals classis it seemed as though I had been snared.  Classes in the arts were and are a constant in my life, but at this point a pattern was forming.  I left Skidmore after two years to move on to a more direct method of learning; studying with masters of the craft.  Deer Isle and the Haystack Mountain School of Craft was to be the new milieu in which I could expand my horizons.  I enrolled in a session of glassblowing, yet even in my glasswork I was incorporating metal.  Following a month of glassblowing, I set up a metal shop.  I needed to refine my work and understand why I was so drawn to metalwork.  Three years later, following a series of commissions and working in mediums including metals and wood, I was ready to try yet another avenue to expand my skills.  This quest brought me to southern Maine, where I commenced classes at the Maine College of Art.  It was there that my metals instructor suggested an apprenticeship at the Ronald Hayes Pearson Studio, and insisted that I apply.

    Soon after, I was off again to Deer Isle Maine, where words that end in 'R' in the rest of the continental U.S. end instead with an 'ah' (like Lobstah and Truckah, for example), and where the people are made of the salt of the earth.  During my two years of apprenticeship at the Pearson studio I continued to expand my learning experiences in a variety of media.  I explored blacksmithing at Haystack once as a student and the following year as a teaching assistant for master blacksmith Doug Wilson.  Haystack Mountain School of Craft has become a foundation for both my art and my life, drawing me back to expand my horizons year after year.  Following my work with Doug Wilson, I was requested as a teaching assistant for master metalsmith Heikki Seppa; the Finnish creator of synclastic and anticlastic raising techniques with metals.  I have been blessed with opportunities during my lifetime to learn from true masters of craft who have assisted me in refining my skills, while nurturing my passion for metals and fanning my creative flame. 

The workbench:  

Lillybud Baby Spoon

Near Completion