About

I was speaking with a good friend the other day saying that I am almost finished renovating the property I have now lived on for over a year and they asked, “So, where are you going next?”

That question made me stop and think about “LIFE”…my life, my jobs and all the homes, studios and gardens I’ve lived in, designed, built, or renovated; all the art I have created in those spaces, and all the friends who have gathered in them for life events.

I’d like to share some small peeks at 6 of the places including Comptche, CA, Manchester, CA, Tampa, FL, Manchester, VT, Mendocino, CA, Land O Lakes, FL

My Comings and goings in a nutshell:

My comings and goings in a nutshell
My influences absolutely come from my beginnings in a small rural town in Vermont. Growing up with grandparents gave me a multi-generational view of our world and an appreciation of what we now know was an uncomplicated life.
My creative development began at an early age when recognition by the Southern Vermont Art Center in their search for young talent gave me a new sense of accomplishment and focus for my studies in years to come.

After completing a BFA in ceramics at Alfred University: New York State College of Ceramics and MFA at Syracuse University my new career as an arts administrator led me to Greenwich House Pottery in New York City, as only the third Director in it’s 80 year history which subsequently led to a
position at The American Craft Museum, also in New York City, setting up a new Department of Education. During that time I also served on several non-profit arts Boards of Directors and completed a research grant from Syracuse University studying and photo documenting the collection of pre-Columbian pottery from several archeology sites on the the islands of St Vincent, Union and Carriacou in the Grenadine Islands

In the years that followed I traveled with my sister to China and Mongolia which was an eye opening time living with a nomad family for a short time learning what life was like where the temperature was 40 below zero and modern necessities were unheard of. In years that followed an International Artist Grant took me to Indonesia where I lived and worked in an artist’s compound on the Island of Java with side trips to Bali and Borobudur.

-I then moved from New York to California to be the Director of the Mendocino Art Center and a few years later took an opportunity to change my focus from administrator to full time studio artist which I have been, happily, for the past many years.
-In addition to “one of a kind” artwork I established “SBW:fine textiles” with two nationally marketed lines of hand dyed women’s silk velvet clothing and a limited edition of hand screened home accessories.

-I continue to live and work in a wonderful big yurt in Mendocino, California .