From Florida Light to Lake Michigan Home
My work continues to evolve as Lake Michigan art — nature inspired pieces shaped by shoreline light, sand, and the steady rhythm of the water. This month, that rhythm stretched from Florida’s salt air to early spring mornings back home in Michigan, and into the quiet of the studio.
I spent time this month with a good friend on Siesta Key. In Florida, I woke to salt air drifting through the screened window, mingling with fresh coffee. A pelican passed low over the water, wings stretched wide. The surf kept steady time while shore birds argued over breakfast. Morning unfolded in warm sunshine, and it felt good to feel that warmth again.
Later, from a boat, I watched a brown pelican make its pass — successfully snagging a fish from the waves. A quiet reminder that some things do not change. Pickleball echoed across the pavement. A heron stepped carefully along the pond’s edge — elegant, slightly awkward. I am grateful I can slow down enough to notice.
Community, Belonging, and Small Neighborhood Living
Back home in Michigan, the days are stretching longer. It has taken two years to settle into this small neighborhood of nine. We are getting to know one another — sharing meals, offering to shovel, hosting small art shows. Becoming a community.
This morning, as I sip my coffee and watch the sun climb higher, I’m grateful for this little pocket of the world where children still play outside and neighbors still gather. A three-year-old rides her scooter despite icy patches. I smile at her simple joy and am reminded how little it takes.
And me? I’m right where I need to be — in this moment, in this place — building the kind of world I want to live in, one neighbor at a time.
Lake Michigan Art in the Studio
In the studio, the clay is beginning to shift.
I’m developing new engobes — matte, quiet, soft to the eye — while also testing reticulation glazes that rise and separate like waves collapsing along the shoreline. These surface explorations continue to shape my larger body of Lake Michigan nature inspired ceramic art, where subtle movement and tone-on-tone finishes reflect the rhythm of the water.
Some formulas are entirely new. Others I first explored more than twenty years ago and am now revisiting with fresh eyes. Each test tile reveals something different.
This feels like early spring work — surface, texture, movement. Possibility just beginning to take shape.
Time to get into the studio. 🌊🎨
