Many, many years ago I was a wee, little girl from Kingston, Jamaica migrating to New York City and soon after to New Rochelle, NY. Even then, dreams of artistry danced in my head. When I was a girl, my artisanry came through in the clothes, tools, and structures I had to make for my dolls and action figures.

Throughout my 12+ years as an urban planner, I continued to add painting, sketching and metalwork to the repertoire. This collection, Urban Jewels, showcases jewelry inspired images of my travels through various cities.

My vehicle for self expression has always been through creating art and practicing interior design. I balance two creative careers equally as a visual artist and as a partner of INSTUDIO interior design. My contemporary aesthetic in art and design is shaped by my passion for art, architecture, craft and designs from global periods, styles and cultures.

 Let me tell you why I'm not an axe murderer.

 I have traveled to every corner of this dark earth and it really is a terrible place:  death, disease, irritable bowel syndrome.

 Then there's the rent, the bills, the unhappy spirits floating everywhere around us.
  I chose to just run away from my problems and paint naked ladies all day. 

My art isn't about trying to heal the violence in my soul, instead it's about the cultivation and nourishment of it--because that is how I genuinely feel, or maybe this is how the universe genuinely feels, through me.  

 Either way, I am putting all of that violence out for your viewing pleasure:
 destruction and chaos, colors and shapes, form and imagination.

Plus philosophy, science, mysticism, our ordinary experience of daily life.

 It's all on the table, and because I have no allegiances to any of those things, I can fuck around all I want.

 Healing is for hippies.  Self-cultivation is for deluded artists.  
 Stop by my studio and share in my delusions.

 Namaste,

 Locust
 SF 2013

Approaching the medium from a wheel throwing point of view, my work takes shape from functional forms. My process involves learning to treat my thrown forms as a tool to more complex shapes and vessels and the subsequent option for surface decoration.  While I produce mainly functional pottery, I attempt to give each piece a strong personality and uniqueness.

SMAart Gallery & Studio was founded in September 2012 and opened its doors at 1045 Sutter Street in San Francisco.

SMAart offers gallery exhibits, studio rentals and ceramic classes.  While the center primarily caters to ceramic artists, artists of every media are welcome.  Founder Steven M Allen opened SMAart to fulfill a longtime dream of having a gallery, a place to teach art to the community, and a place to create art in a creative open environment surrounded by other inspiring artists.  

Conveniently located in the Lower Nob Hill neighborhood with access to several major bus lines.  SMAart is also positioned in the heart of the Lower Polk Art Walk offering participating artists access to a burgeoning art scene.

I love how cold clay feels, but then fires to a finish that can feel warm in its shape and color.

I like to create beautiful and functional shapes, but I love being able to paint and draw on a freshly fired bisque ware. I mainly work with black oxide because it’s fun for me to watch how one shade of oxide changes as its absorbed by the porous surface.

I once took a ceramics course early in my college years and I dabbled again years after college.

I am not classically trained but I enjoy what I do and hope that others will also enjoy my pieces or at least feel the passion that I have in making each and every piece.

I wouldn’t be sharing my pieces if it wasn’t for my loving and supportive husband who encourages me to explore my happiness every day and also for our loving dog, Rufus, who guards the house while I go and play with dirt.

If you live in a San Francisco apartment, like I do, you need art to fit into your daily life.  That's why most of the artwork I do is functional pottery.  I also have a whimsical side, which you can see in my artwork decorated with banana slugs, eyes and feet, or other fun sculptural details.  I make most of my own glazes, so the glazing you see on pieces is original.

I'm also an amateur chef, so my ceramics are usually about preparing or serving food.

Currently I'm working in the San Francisco Clay Underground.  It's a great place, you should drop by.