Mentors

"I come from a family of teachers, and have an appreciation for what teachers go through. When I went to junior college at Northwestern Michigan College, the art faculty was small. It had eight total faculty members. One of my teachers was Paul Welch. He was a very inspirational teacher to me and we are still in regular contact. Paul is now in his late 80s and still drawing like a fiend. He is a natural artist who cannot stop creating.

I did two years of community college because it was way less expensive for credit hours, and then I did the last two years of my undergraduate studies at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit. Herb Babcock was the glass instructor there. I went to Detroit thinking that I wanted to be a studio potter, because I had started throwing pots when I was 12 and had been taking all the ceramics classes at the local junior college. By the time I went to Detroit, I thought I would become a studio potter. I also worked to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree just in case I ended up going into teaching, as well. The college had a hot glass facility, which was kind of unusual in the 1980s, and that’s how I got into the glass aspect of things. I took glassblowing as an elective course, and by the time I graduated, my BFA was in ceramics, but I really spent my last couple of years there working in glass. So later, my Master of Fine Art (from Kent State University) was also focused on glass. Herb Babcock was a great mentor who was very generous and thoughtful with his time. Actually, I am still great friends with him too, and still in contact with him."