Inspired by my travels in Japan and my life long love of textiles and fabric, I ventured into natural dyeing techniques that include indigo as well as eco-printing with eucalyptus and plant species native to my hometown of the Pacific Northwest.

I began working with wet felting with the desire to make a piece of cloth that I could then eco-dye and print with the same foliage, eucalyptus and maple, that I use to create the layers of color on the scarves that I design and dye.

I fell in love with the process of wet felting and being able to design a felted fabric to print upon. After making several of these felted cowls I was eager to see how the eco-printing would turn out. I knew that with the texture in the cowl, it might be a challenge, but I was up for it.

Well….the eco-printing was stunning, deep oranges and reds, muted greens and browns, this is the magic of using wool with eco-printing. And that’s about all that was successful. As I feared, the texture and the ruffle did not work at all, actually down right bad, and I mean really bad.

I did not let that get in my way of creating this cowl series, I just pivoted to using roving that had already been dyed and knew that this is a process that I will continue to develop.

My first Storyteller, “Keeper of the Story” was inspired by a letter from a ceramic artist. The concept was of a shared story between artists to inspire an art piece. The letter wound its way through this artists life, which only offered a snapshot, until the artist started writing about the importance of books throughout their life, which I related to immediately as I have always been an avid reader, letting books transport me to far of places and spark my imagination and creativity. It was the spark I was searching for to begin the creative process. I had never ventured into sculpture as a ceramic artist and became excited at the idea of creating something so outside my comfort zone. Not only did I begin creating the ceramic sculpture but also learned how to create small books that encircled the sculpture to tell the story of

“The Keeper of the Story”. She became the first in a series of ceramic Storytellers which have now morphed into Assemblage Sculpture.

This new series of Storytellers draws inspiration from the textiles that I have collected during my travels as well as a vast collection of fabric from my late mother-in-law, who was an avid quilter. Combing through my many bins of fabric, I often find that one fabric will speak to me and that will be the beginning of a new story to be written and a new Storyteller to emerge. RummagIng around junk shops and antique stores, looking for pieces that help me tell the story. Old fishing floats, spindles from chairs that no longer provide a place to sit, remnants from lamps and door hardware; these discarded pieces are recycled and given new purpose and a new life