As a child, I benefitted from my mother's crafting impulses. She would buy patterns from a popular home magazine and construct wonders like a wooden cradle for my doll, a giraffe clothes rack for my room, and other treasures that she had neither the proper tools or space to create. She was a prodigious sewer, rosemaler, knitter and gardener. My artist uncle lived next door. A potter, oil painter, he made his own tiles for his mosaic pieces. His largest work was a mural spanning the front of the family restaurant - and he told me the little dancing girl at the front of the piece WAS ME! I watched, spellbound, as he worked his wheel, put pieces to fire, or pieced tiny ceramic tesserae into works of art. Today, these two are my "muses" as I play with various forms and media. A few of my miniature creations still remain in the Gift Shop, while I've moved on to explore my own mosaic style, mostly in glass, but turning to recycled ceramics at times. Finding ways to re-use material is a joy and a passion in all my work.