2025 was the year that I found my Italian groove with clay.

For so much of my life I’ve done my firing through guilds and groups and schools.

In 2018, thank you to a Chalmers Professional Development Grant from the Ontario Arts Council, I finally went through the work of setting up a ceramics studio at The Cedars (my family cottage in Canada).

What feels like 15 minutes later, I moved to Italy… okay it was a whole year later, but there wasn’t enough time to get into a groove before I left.

Finally this year, I hit it! My groove! I have settled on some clay bodies and have come to know them well. I have fired my wood kiln - Cantico - often enough to know her foibles and how to make her sing. And I have developed a collection of glazes with which I am becoming friends.

I am so proud of the results.

It’s also lovely to see them through someone else’s eyes. One of our Workaways - Nina van den Broek - took these photos, and she made them shine!!!