In the 1800’s my Grandparents immigrated from County Cork, Ireland to the Old Bog Road, Enterprise, Ontario. Much to my benefit, the property is now enjoyed as a forested lake-front, bred in the bone, oasis where I spend my summers.

In a small town, not far away, is now the Tamworth Gaeltacht. I had the honour of attending to learn Irish Gaelic. Mostly a failed attempt, but the best experience! Irish Gaelic is one big puzzle.

This dinnerware set combines my favourite vocabulary learned, and the use of my late Father’s metal letter stamps. Both I treasure.

On the side of each piece is a Gaelic word or phrase and on the bottom is the phonetic spelling and definition. It is a fourty-piece set with bowls, plates, and drinking vessels .

I started this set soon after I read The White Road by Edmund de Waal. The book inspired me to work in porcelain and his work inspired me to re-visit the cylinder form. After teaching the production of hundreds of cylinder forms it was so freeing to let these cylinders breathe in not such a “perfect” manner.

From a distance, horsetail grasses all look the same, seemingly hiding beside each other in the hundreds. As you approach, the subtle differences come to light in colour, form, and size. And as you get closer a few stand out even more - the personality shines through in the gesture. The initial working title for this piece was Standing Out In a Crowd.

The individual blades vary in height from 14”- 16” and are stoneware clay with slate glaze. The emphasized piece has 20 nitric acid etched flat fine silver champlevé with cloisonné inlayed designs within the cells.

This work was exhibited at the Propeller Gallery, Toronto, On

Stoneware & Porcelain

Throwing bowls is a spiritual experience for me.

When throwing these forms, and getting into the zone,  I am usually thinking about the form on a different level. The space created upon opening the form makes me think of empty vs. full bowls - much like the Buddhist begging bowls.

Sometimes relationships are difficult.

This life, death, re-incarnation, murder, revenge and redemption scene appropriately emerges on a chalice form.

Historic chalices were decorated with precious metals, jewels and often enamel decoration. This piece uses similar materials with personal, non-traditional, imagery.

The structure is copper pipe welded to a pre-formed copper bowl. The surface is fine silver cloisonné with inlayed enamel.

These two pieces show complex fine silver cloisonné dragonfly designs skimming over water and land. I used sifting and inlay enamel applications in an attempt to replicate land and water surfaces.

The boxes were crafted by wood-worker extraordinaire Gary Helps using a vertical maple wood and horizontal cherry wood.

Land was exhibited at the Canadian Clay and Glass Museum.

I love all things water:
ice, lakes, swamps, showers, snow,
and walking in the rain.

This is a collection of cloisonné and plique-à-jour enamel pieces with water-related subject matter.

Love Moroccan food.

This earthenware clay project had to happen.

Love dragonflies.
Dislike mosquitoes.
Celebrating one over the other.
They land on me often -
a symbol of good luck.
I can study them for as long as they
stay with me -
for a minute or many minutes.
I feel peace.
I feel protected.

This piece is comprised of two acrylic paintings (4’ x 4’ and 4’ x 6’) with black marker pattern details.

Also shown are a series of four preliminary prints with marker patterns titled flight.

This sculpture is part of a set that explores the classical life elements: earth, air, fire, and water. The challenge was to create an appealing form that would encompass the four distinct, integral elements. The spherical form combined with the opening shape suggests the eye of a storm; the outside texture surface is left raw to suggest a dry land mass such as a desert; the inside area contrasts in glaze application with red-browns, green-blues, and smooth surface quality to suggest fire and water.

The forms were made using pinch technique. I don’t believe that I have opened a form in that manner, since I met Hopi potter Preston Duwyenie. I think of his eloquent way of describing the metaphor of taking special care of the inside of a vessel and the outside will take care of itself.

Found in the woods in the time of pandemic.

For the first time in my life I spent most of the winter at the lake, in an actual building (not a sea container)…with heat.

There are lots of trees here and there was snow.

It is still a construction site but I had to take some time to capture some tree imagery. Not a lot of art supplies around but I had fun with bark, flooring cutoffs, supplier advertising, my beloved leaf’s standings, some imaginary bugs, a few ghost trees, text and words, one of many well water tests (all negative which is a good thing), and an obituary (not the actual one since I don’t have a printer here) in honour of Mary Shea (1924-2024) fellow artist and lover of this lake.

It has been a minute! It felt great to put some materials to paper. Looking forward to setting up the studio when we are finished the build. One more summer?!?!

This was fun.

When cutting through the Canadian shield one day Brian found, in the archaeological dig, four wagon wheels.

There is no doubt in my mind they were the remains of my Grandfather’s equipment. He homesteaded this land, or should I say - rock, in the late 1800’s. Coming from Ireland, they must have felt very at home in this un-farmable rock landscape, in an area covered more by water than soil.

I never met him. On this land I feel him and others.

Walking this land while continuing the custodianship, I think about my ancestors often. Did they walk in this part of the woods? Did they plant that tree? Did they love the 200 year old maple tree as much as I do? Did they enjoy swimming at the beach? Did they notice that swamp? Did they stop to watch the water flow in the creek? Mostly I am realistic about this. They probably had no time to do such things since hard work and daily survival were the priority. They tried to plant (probably potatoes), they cut ice out of the lake to sell, they harvested winter wheat behind the lake and hauled it over the frozen lake to feed their animals, they sold milk, and they hunted. Sometimes I feel it takes me all day to survive here when I move wood from the motorised wood splitter to the highly efficient wood stove. Then I turn on my lights, the in-floor heating, go to the modern bath, relax on my Corbu chairs and feel sorry for myself. Then I pause and think about them- and get over myself.

I do like to think, and I do feel, I am walking in their footsteps- I just have more comfortable shoes.

What a gift I have been given.

This sculpture is a very heavy tangible item to touch…something I know he has touched as well. Comforting. (… and not lost on me that He and my Dad are looking down shaking their heads in THAT way.)

Final note: When Peter excavated the property he unearthed bones. Brian and I thanked God and Goddess they were horse bones- not human. Maybe that horse and wagon stopped working at the same time?

( Big thanks to Brian for the find and putting up with my crazy ideas. Although I must say he did say “no” when I wanted the broken one to be a mobile - something about it weighs a ton and will kill someone, to Jeff for the install- a nightmare 18 feet in the air with lasers, and Katherine for the lighting design - I really can’t show how beautiful it is in photos )