I made her way slowly to becoming an award-winning professional artist—an art minor, a teacher, a mother of four—before becoming more serious about making clay objects ten years ago. My work as an educator with diverse groups of children and adults informs my work as an artist. My figures reflect my penchant for people and the stories they tell. By observing their demeanor, facial expressions, body language, and how people stand, interact, and tell their stories, I create clay figures that express common threads of the human experience. My background in painting informs the surfaces by adding colorful designs, script, textures and mark making that brings a mood and context that encourage viewers to add their own story. My work is in several personal and institutional collections and has been juried in national exhibitions.