I’m not sure what initially drew me into clay and the making of pottery and ceramic art but I absolutely love its mechanical and scientific aspects. As Otto Heino once mentioned to me, you shouldn’t have to force the clay; you should allow it to flow. Some people have difficulty with this but as it flows between my fingers, I become one with the clay, which allows me to manipulate it in many special ways.

I was born and raised in Connecticut, where there is lots of colonial history, including preserved and operational historical sites. I remember visiting both Mystic Seaport, on the Connecticut shoreline, and Sturbridge Village, in lower Massachusetts, several times as a child. Looking back at it, I realize those trips made a significant contribution to the direction of my life. At Mystic and Sturbridge, I was totally fascinated by what the craftsmen could make out of basic, raw and natural materials with relatively simple processes compared to today’s technology. Not only did they make wonderfully functional and decorative pieces from iron, clay and wood but they also made the tools they’d use to create them. The intrigue in those processes, along with my grandfather being a custom cabinetmaker, probably contributed significantly to my very mechanical nature.

My dad spent his life as a commercial artist on Madison Avenue in New York City and does spectacular watercolors. My mom's played the piano and became a fine artist later in her life. All my siblings are either fine artists or involved in music so there has been a definite artistic influence in my life. I tend to be the engineer and mechanic, so working with clay is pretty basic for me; it's the decorative art aspect of pottery and ceramics I'm still working on at this point.

Back when I was 12 or 13 years old, I started building a pottery kick wheel for some reason. I don’t remember what inspired me but I must have seen one at Mystic or Sturbridge at some point. I cast a 3-foot diameter concrete disk with an embedded steel shaft and built the frame to hold it. Unfortunately, I had no clue about ball bearings at that point in life and I never did figure out how to attach the wheel head. Don’t know what ever happened to that kick wheel but it’s entirely possible that the concrete disk is still somewhere out in the woods behind my folk’s house. During high school, I was into model railroading and also built several water and iceboats just to keep myself busy.

After high school I went to a private engineering school (Stevens Institute of Technology in NJ) where I spent all my free time in the machine and welding shops. Upon graduation, I moved out to San Diego for my first job as a manufacturing engineer for an engineering consulting company. Long story short there, the company acquired a non-ferrous foundry and I ended up stepping in as the patternmaker and ultimately became foundry manager. We made patterns for and cast aluminum and bronze parts for local manufacturing companies along with custom bronze plaques, signs and even custom hardware for Las Vegas casinos and hotels. The foundry ended up acquiring a metal etching company that did custom sheet metal etching, which included all the elevator door skins for the then new MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas (the ones with the big lion’s head logos), along with many for the high rises being built or remodeled in Los Angeles. All that lasted 17 years.

Toward the end of that period, I went back to school and got two more degrees including a BA in Computer Information Systems. With that, in 1995 I moved up to Camarillo to work for a start-up software company, which I discovered through my old-time friend and now brother-in-law. Once here, he introduced me to a backyard pottery studio in Somis, operated by his sister-in-law’s sister (too complex, I know, but basically a family connection). Anyway, that’s where I really got started in clay. The owner, Gail Weiss Kearney, gave me some quick lessons on wedging, centering and throwing the clay and then off I went on my own. Having dealt with so many materials in my life as an engineer and patternmaker, clay was just one more that I knew I could sink my teeth into, or better yet, my hands!

Unfortunately because of my schedule, I was only able to spend about 3 hours a week in the studio for the first several years. Most of my time was spent teaching myself because others who were there needed more attention than I did. Since then, the only “real classes” I’ve ever taken have been the workshops that have been sponsored over the years by the Ventura County Potters’ Guild (VCPG). By 1998, I was spending up to 8 hours a week during the evenings in the studio. Unfortunately, the studio was about 10 miles from home so what I could do was limited by time and accessibility. I was never involved in any of the firings except for occasional raku firings that were held on the weekend.

Shortly after getting into clay, I learned about the local Potters’ Guild and attended a meeting. I signed up immediately and within a few years I was solicited by then president, Kathy Neprud, to become treasurer. 2007 marked my 8th year as treasurer and that story is still in progress. About 7 years ago, I designed and built the Guild’s Web site, which I now maintain and have plans on remodeling. I also contribute to Studio Channel Islands Art Center by maintaining their Web site.

In 2000, my wife and I bought our current house and all my pottery work came to a screeching halt in favor of spending time on the house and yard. Between then and the end of 2005, I literally only made three hand-built pieces as I sat in the cashier’s booth during the Guild’s annual sale at the Ojai Music Festival. Over Christmas break in 2005, I had a plumber come in and run the gas line out to my kiln, which I had bought about 5 years prior but never had hooked up. I welded up the roof structure to cover what’s now my studio area next to the garage and I actually started throwing again after my 5-year hiatus.

Since then, all I’ve been doing is experimenting with different high-fire clays (various types of stoneware and for the first time, porcelain), various glazes and firing techniques! I’ve got an old Aim updraft gas kiln, which I had to line with ceramic fiber before I could get the whole thing up to temperature (cone 10 ~ 2380 degrees F). Except for bisque, all my final firings are done in reduction or high-reduction, although with an updraft kiln, the reduction tends to vary a fair amount depending on where in the kiln you are. As a result, it’s always exciting to unload the kiln after each firing.

As far as my interests go, I’ve always been intrigued by natural forms, textures and material. Shortly after moving to San Diego, I got involved with an off-road racing pit crew and was introduced to the whole desert area there. I loved going down to the Anza-Borrego desert and Baja to explore the mountains, caverns, washes and caves.

As I venture into the “clay phase” of my life, I’ve been experimenting with natural materials as part of the texture and glaze components of my work. As time progresses, I’ll be incorporating more harvested natural materials into my work; whether it be driftwood, decomposed granite, other rock material, shells, or whatever sparks my interest.