My studio work in graduate school was primarily in drawing and painting, but during my final semester I took a graduate ceramic class with a young faculty adjunct, Ken Little. He was very enthusiastic about clay and before we created he had us interact by “playing” clay games. Small groups of students had to take clay and create the tallest form possible on the work tables. Individually, we closed our eyes and experienced the tactile nature of the medium while he provided the dialogue. For me, it was “love” at first touch. I didn't know then it would become the major occupation of my life.
The next encounter with clay came while I was teaching art in Volusia County. Our art supervisor, Dorothy Johnson brought many talented artists to provide inservice education to our art teachers. Her first artist-in-schools was a potter, Craig Bryson. He demonstrated wheel- throwing. I went to the Daytona Junior College in the evening to learn how to throw on the potter's wheel.
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In 1978, I returned to St. Petersburg and sent up a pottery studio and built a Raku kiln. The Clay Factory in Tampa invited, Paul Soldner, to give a workshop. He is given the honor and title of the “Father of American Raku.” hv
The picture from this link shows me at Festival of Masters in Lake Buena Vista with my Third Place Sculpture, 2005. I also won Third Place in 2004 and Second place in 2003.
Other Recognition:
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sSpace Coast Arts Festival, Cocoa Beach, FL. Third Sculpture 2010
Melbourne Fine Arts Festival, Melbourne,FL. Second Sculpture 2009
Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Tampa, Merit Award 2005
Celebration Arts Festival, Lake Buena Vista, Third Place 2006 Sculpture
Isle of 8 Flag Festival, Fernandina Beach, First Place 2005 Sculpture
Artist Enhancement Grant in 2005 to attend National Council for Education of the Ceramic Arts in Baltimore—NCECA http://www.nceca.net
