There is a beauty—a vulnerability—within each of us. Finding that beauty beneath the suffering of living with chronic illness is the focus of this particular body of work. Susan Sontag, Illness as a Metaphor wrote “Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship in the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.” I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2011, after many years of unexplained symptoms like dizziness, brain fog, memory loss, spasms and tightness in limbs, trouble walking. The road to 2011 was a tough one, and most of the time I suffered in silence, thinking it was just psychological, and I would wake up one day and it would all be gone. In the years after diagnosis, I began to research chronic illnesses and how they are often marginalized, contested and unrecognized in society.

cone 5/6

Slab and slip-casting

Underglazes and acrylic Paint

no

Multifaceted

My Granddaughter's art space - makes me smile every time.

Slab roller

To get a kiln, an air purifier, and a pugger.

Recycle and repurpose

Draw in my sketchbook

I like to keep myself in the studio even if for only an hour at a time.

I create art to better understand the world around me.

In the ceramics world I just love Tyler Quintin's work. I love how he combines the organic with the mathematical.

Just keep working everyday!

That it wouldn't dry up so fast. I live in Nevada–very dry!