Artist Statement: I can’t remember a time in my life that didn’t involve creating art. There seemed to always be an art project in process in the middle of the dining room table. Mom and Dad would push it aside to make room for our plates at dinner time. My parents encouraged creativity, enrolling my sister and I in private art classes, outside of the ones offered at the public school we attended. I loved it. My art evolved to explore the relationships between the animals on my Leelanau County farm and us, their human caretakers. I love working in clay. I love being in the barn. I watch my animals, the way they interact, how I interact with them. What I observe consciously and unconsciously eventually embodies the clay one way or another. I hope that, like me, you think my sculptures strike a beautiful balance between fantasy and realism. Between strength and vulnerability between heaven and earth.