From the time I was a child, I knew I had a creative spirit. I dabbled in everything, from charcoal drawing to acrylic painting, watercolor and photography, but could never quite land on anything that felt like mine. Eventually, I put art on the back burner and attended Ferris State University, earning a degree in graphic arts and printing.

But creativity has a way of refusing to be ignored. In my late 40s, I wandered into a pottery class and found my home. For several years I took one class a week at the Flint Institute of Arts, never missing a term. My earliest pieces were, as you might expect, a bit wonky. I'll never forget my middle-school-aged son announcing at the dinner table one evening: "You could open a shop someday, Mom , and call it, MaryAnn's Shitty Pottery!" One of the proudest milestones in my evolution as a potter came the day he looked at my work and said, "Well, I guess you can't call it Shitty Pottery anymore."

So here I am, nearing retirement and embarking on the greatest creative adventure of my life, one that was a lifetime in the making. If you live in Michigan, I hope to see you at one of my shows. If you are out of state, please peruse my site and let me know if I can create an original piece for your home.

My Process:

As a ceramic artist, my work is rooted in bringing artistry and quiet elegance into everyday living. I create both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces, exploring a range of techniques and glazes to achieve distinctive surfaces and forms. My work is made from stoneware or porcelain and finished with glazes chosen for their depth, durability, and expressive potential. Ceramics is a medium that demands patience, experience, and trust. Time in the studio continually offers new lessons, making the process both challenging and deeply rewarding. I am drawn to working with clay as a way to refine natural elements into functional, inspiring objects. It is a meditative and grounding practice, one in which learning and exploration are never-ending.