About me
I am a mother of 4 grown-up children living with my wonderful husband in Ottawa, Canada. Our expat life began in Seoul in 2013, where we lived for 8 years in total. We also spent 2 years in Malaysia, where life was very different, before returning to Seoul for a 2nd posting. In 2023 my husband's job moved to Canada, so we upped sticks yet again and flew off.
My Catholic faith is a very important part of my world, and is at the basis of my poetry, either implicitly or explicitly. Besides poetry and pottery, I love the rhythm of the seasons, the night sky, getting older, baking sometimes, drinking coffee and spending time with friends.
I bring you my completed pieces, not as an expert or master would, but to inspire you with my imperfect pots and poems to enjoy learning something new. The artist sees their own faults in all their detail, but the viewer, I have found, often sees in the other's work a beautiful whole.
The Creative Context
In 2013 my life was transplanted from the mundane and familiar into another world. Korea inspired me and the unintentional idleness of an expat spouse life gave me the time and leisure to channel my creative energies into poetry and pottery. Learning poetry by heart has been a hobby since childhood, and given me many snatched moments of happiness on long walks (or in the shower). Hilaire Belloc was my first favourite, and Gerard Manley Hopkins my adult inspiration. When I arrived in Korea I felt inspired to write my own poetry, in response to the changing of the seasons, homesickness, tragedy and pleasure. Poetry is a form of communication, and so it seems fitting to make it available for those who might enjoy it. Some of my poems are very personal, others are a response to what is going on around me.
I came very late to the pottery scene, taking a series of pottery classes in hand-building at the end of 2014, and continuing on until 2016 with the same teacher in her studio. All of the photos from that time show in the background her work or that of other pupils. I realised early on that if I made one small item a week, I would very soon run out of space at home, and so as soon as my teacher felt I was capable of something more ambitious, I started making a moon jar ... and then another, and another. I don't know what I find so satisfying about the moon jar (달 항아리). The curve is very specific, and the mouth of the jar must be slightly larger than the foot. Each jar took me about 5 classes to complete to first firing stage. I think I like the discipline and monotony of the building process, each few rounds of clay being shaped by the same repeated hand-motion, and finished with multiple sweeps with a wooden tool. There is a lot to learn still about working with the different types of clay, the drying process, painting, glazing and kilning, but a great deal of enjoyment in the learning of it.
When I returned to Seoul after our stint in Kuala Lumpur, I looked for a studio to return to pottery once again, as my former ceramics teacher had closed her studio. I found Darae Studio and Annette, and realised a project that had been requested by my daughter when our homemade advent candleholder had caught fire: you can see the result on the Advent Centrepiece page. After making that piece, I decided to learn how to throw on the wheel. After much patient teaching, Annette decided I must start making teapots: in order to be able to call myself a potter, I must make 100 of them. A teapot has many parts: the bowl, the lid, the spout and the handle. Each of these can be thrown on the wheel and then must be assembled, dried, bisqued, glazed and kilned again. Learning to do this requires knowledge of each of these processes. I believe as of January 2026 I may have made about 18!
