My journey into clay started like a lot of people, by accident.  My senior year I had to take an art class.  Ceramics fit my schedule.  In 1986/87 it was Clovis High School with instructor Gene Griffith.  I didn’t do much of anything for the first quarter, a little sculpture.  I was way into the semester when I finally got on the wheel.  I sucked but it was fun.  By the end of the year I was making pots you could defend your property with.

I took ceramics at Fresno City College with instructor Jim Shepard.  Ceramics counted for 3 of the 60 units I needed, that was what I was there for.  The way Jim Shepard presented pottery/ceramics got me interested.  I got a little better, enough to take it a second semester.  I was hooked after that.  I took a ceramic class every semester in college.  Some days I only came to school to spend all day in the ceramics dept, skipping classes.  I got terrible grades, didn’t care, I was making great pots.

I finished the 60 units and moved on to Fresno State with instructor Tom McDougall. Did the same thing, skipped a lot of classes and made pots.  Took it again every semester until they said I couldn’t anymore.  After that I took independent studies with Larry Anderson.   It never occurred to me to get a degree in ceramics or art. I was always doing it for myself, an escape if you will.  I graduated in 1994 from Fresno State with a degree in Liberal Studies.  Probably had an art minor, but didn’t check.

In 1996 I returned to Fresno City College with Jim Shepard.  That year we built  a Catenary arch castable soda kiln that lasted about 12 years.  

Life happened and I took a 24 year break, worked, raised a family. Retired in 2021 and have been back at the wheel since.