I was a kid that could occupy long hours with a pencil and a sketchbook. In school I was always drawing, doodling, or inventing new fonts (although we didn't call them that at the time) to write notes to friends with. But when I became an adult, I just didn't have time anymore. Family and work obligations left no time for art.
In 1992, I started taking one class a semester at McHenry County College. That was all the time I could squeeze out of an already full schedule. I began with all the prerequisites and then found myself needing to fill those elective hours. I took a drawing class, and then another, and then a life drawing class and then a painting class- well, you get the idea. I happened to take a sculpture class with Susan Galloway, who also taught the pottery classes. When I expressed interest in the wheel, she asked if I had 15 minutes and proceeded to give me my first lesson.
And you know the rest.
Just like all the other potters out there, I was hooked. It was a good thing I'd gotten math and science out of the way or I never would have completed my Associate Degree in Fine Arts. I later transferred to Northern Illinois University and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a major in Ceramics and a minor in Art History.
I took my first clay class eleven years ago, and I continue to be enthralled with clay. It is still the thing I think about at night before sleep. New forms, new glazes, what if I tried...?
I started teaching pottery classes in 2003. Teaching is enormously gratifying. I love to see that spark catch fire for a student. I love to watch their development; see their cylinders grow taller, their bowls get wider, that lump of clay they begin with get larger. After teaching at several private local art schools, it is a joy to have a studio of my own that is big enough to hold classes.
I continue my education by attending several workshops yearly with some of the premier contemporary ceramic artists in the USA.
I am a member of the Northwest Area Arts Council, Chicago Artists' Coalition and the Clayworkers' Guild of Illinois. I am also an Illinois Artisan, a prestigious juried program sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council.
My work can be found for sale at DeCraene Studios and also at:
DeKalb Gallery 815/754-4316
161 E Lincoln Hwy
DeKalb, Il 60115
Old Courthouse Arts Center
101 N Johnson
Woodstock, Il 60098
Bryan Becker Claywerks
2215 N Highway 83
Hartland, WI 53209
Illinois Artisan's Shop 312/814-5321
James R. Thompson Center
100 W Randolph St
Suite 2-200
Chicago, IL 60601
Down to Earth Pottery (Inside The Treasure Hut) 630/262-9555
221 S Third St
Geneva, IL 60134
