“After college, I moved to Goshen and I was inspired by all the local established potters, so I interned with Justin Rothshank. I really was inspired by his studio practices. He’s such a hard worker but also he can be a dad so he inspires me to be a better potter and be a better form of myself. I really appreciate how supportive the community is of the arts, not just ceramics but all over: music, painting, photography, and theater. I just feel like it’s a welcoming, supportive place to start a business and possibly stay.
I really love the natural curves of the human body and the natural curves of nature. That’s what I mostly think about when I’m altering my pieces. Of course, flowers really inspire me because of the stamps and the natural leaves on my pieces.
It always brings me so much joy to work as a team throughout the whole five-day wood-firing process. We’re all working toward the same outcome of firing the kiln, but we all do it differently. It’s always fun to learn and experience new techniques and just be around other clay artists who also enjoy the wood firing just as much as you do. It’s always fun to hang out with your people so that’s pretty much my favorite thing about pottery.
I feel like a lot of people are just not motivated to make things because of how heavy the world is right now. Personally, it’s been rough for me to try to even get to my studio, but I’ve been trying to make my online presence, my website, fully operating. I’m doing the back business, I guess, of the artist’s work. I’m not motivated to make because it’s really hard to sell during these times because people are just trying to pay their bills and survive, basically, which I totally understand because I’m trying to do the same thing.”
