Inspiration
One unifying thread in my work is the manipulation of surfaces.  My inspiration lately has  come from designs on textiles—quilts from a number of American cultures - to wedding dresses sewn in India. I play with the qualities of surfaces in the same way that many textile artists design cloth, creating metaphors through overlap, camouflage, veiling, revealing, and decorating.
When I was a child, my introduction to handmade craft was through fabrics. I spent time in the sewing rooms of women who made clothes, women who were family or close family friends. They were the women who raised me, my role models, and who instilled in me the stories, tales, and the lessons of life that I carry with me today. Perhaps if I had had the opportunity, I might have become a textile artist. However, I have come to realize that working with clay  offers me a a very personal challenge. This challenge relates to the struggle, when I was younger, grappling with the concepts of my identity as a women of mixed race heritage. More and more I realize these are complex issues for everyone in this county, and create a constantly evolving culture that is difficult, complex, layered, and colorful. Although these are fairly abstract concepts for pots, these ideas are deeply rooted in work and come through as metaphor, in the intuitive, sensual, and  layered surface of my pots.