Where To find my work

Having lived several places around the country, Valerie now calls Cary, North Carolina her home. With almost 40 years experience in clay, for the past 10 years, she has managed the pottery studio and been a ceramic instructor at the Cary Art Center. Primarily a hand-builder, she makes functional pottery and sculptural ceramic pieces. Her work is organic and free flowing in form and glazing technique.  What continues to attract her, is the feel of the clay, the instant gratification of watching the form take shape, and the transformation it goes thru from start to finish.  She has exhibited her work and sold in galleries and shops in Florida, Georgia, Oregon, Ohio as well as here in North Carolina
 

 I love the texture and feel of the clay, the way it can be shaped and formed into just about anything, functional and sculptural. I am intrigued with the different textures and effects of the glazes used in ceramics. That you are basically taking mud and turning it into something useful and beautiful. It fascinates me that clay is a part of and impacts every aspect of our lives, whether it’s the handmade pottery mug with our morning coffee, the bricks and ceramic tiles in our homes, or the tiles on the space shuttle, clay is everywhere. It’s so simple a kindergartner can make something with it and yet offers enough to complexity that you can spend years exploring and mastering aspects of it.

 I draw from many resources for inspiration. The woman I apprenticed under, Jean Waldberg, with her beautiful organic shapes and use of the raw clay surface.  I love the shape, feel and surface treatments of Native American pottery. The simplicity and elegance of form in Asian pottery, emphasis of having beauty in everyday objects like a ceramic teacup. I have taken classes and workshops from many potters and have taken from all of them something to call my own. One of the things I love about clay is there is always more to learn and more to share with others.