biography
Born and raised in the warm south, I have spent most of my life out of doors. I have never outgrown the desire to run wild in the woods and play in the muddy dirt. As a small child, I dug indigenous clay from riverbanks with my mother. We made pinch pots never destined for a fire. An artist herself, though with little time, she raised me and my five younger siblings to appreciate and cultivate beauty in all of our surroundings.
Several lifetimes after those early experiences, I took my first pottery class with Stan Cowen at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. Within two years, I was working with Charlie Parker at the St. Petersburg Clay Company learning to fabricate glazes and fire kilns. As the kiln and glaze tech, I had the opportunity to work with some of our greatest living ceramic artists. It was my privilege to work with Resident Artists to assist and fire for and with Don Reitz, Don Bendel, David Smith, and others.
In 2006, I uprooted my children, cats, and houseplants and transplanted us in Asheville, North Carolina. It has been a most auspicious move, introducing me to new teachers and friends, most influential being Becca Floyd. My work has benefited immeasurably, becoming more organic and even more accessibly functional. It has even taken on a narrative quality with the brushwork and tiny birds.
I now watch the seasons change far from the seaside of my birth. The mountains of western North Carolina are an amazing and ever-changing setting in which to raise my children and make my work. The roots that I am putting down in this community will, I hope, last me a lifetime.
special thanks
I must take a moment here to offer special thanks to:
my children, Guthrie and Sadie Stephens
their father, Daniel Stephens
and some of my dearest friends and mentors,
Mom and Daddy
Gabe, Nick, Marie, Katherine, and Francis
Jane Stephens
Annie Copeland
Linda LaPointe and Joyce Pestell
Stan Cowen
Charlie Parker
Paolie Allen
Don Reitz
Don Bendel
Jason Snelson
Chloe Rothwell
Becca Floyd
Kevin Crowe
Lori Theriault
Dawn Dalto
Cynthia Lee
and the ever fabulous Dayna
o, and Rosetta!
