Decades after earning degrees in English and writing, I took some ceramics classes at the community college where I teach composition and literature. The studio was next to the building I worked in, and I had mornings free. At the time, in 2018, I was studying a lot about learning, and this motivated me to explore something new, wholly as a novice. So that’s how clay found me.  

Because I have an MFA in writing, I’m often asked if I find ways to rely on that with clay. And the answer is: all the time. I have an education in curiosity, in the recklessnesses of turning an idea into a thing, to materialize an abstraction. And that’s always a muddy process, saturated with uncertainty, regardless of form or function.