Thank you to the entire administration team at Craft Contemporary, and especially to Rody Lopez for his vision and organizational brilliance in making this weekends event possible. I am honored and deeply moved to receive the Visionary Award. To be recognized by the Los Angeles arts community — a city I’ve called home and creative ground for 25 years — means more than I can say.
Throughout my journey, I’ve always sought out a community — a choir of minds more curious or knowledgeable than me — who were generous with their time and insight. People who helped feed, challenge, and inspire my relentless curiosity. I think of mentors like Pat O’Neill and his late wife Beverly, Jim Isermann, Lorraine Molina, Rosamund Felsen, Phyllis Green, Christine Heindl, and the late Michael Asher. So many artists guided me early on, offering teaching opportunities and a vision for what a life in the arts might look like — including Kim McConnell, Jean Lowe, and Joan Jonas.
Like many of my peers, I began in commercial galleries, committed to a singular vision of success. But I took a sharp turn. I created a parallel path — building an entrepreneurial ceramic design practice separate from my fine art — an alternative economy for myself and other artists. At the time, that split was necessary. The art world demanded it. But things have changed. Today, those boundaries are more fluid.
I want to remind us all of the humanness in choosing a life in the arts. My artistic goals — to be valued, respected, to have creative freedom, and to be in community — may be shared by many reading this. And in many ways, I’ve achieved those goals, even amid challenging circumstances. Our work in micro-manufacturing ceramics in Los Angeles hasn’t gone unnoticed. It’s meaningful. These lessons, even the hard ones, are markers of growth — and I meet them with grace, vulnerability, and transparency for those who work alongside me.
Continued in comments….please continue to read.
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