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I grew up in a small town in Minnesota, and touched clay once in first grade, and then not again until I took a required crafts class at Berea College in Kentucky. Much to my surprise, I was smitten. I returned to Minnesota in 1975 after an apprenticeship in Canada. It was my great good fortune to meet Jeff Oestreich, who generously shared his studio with me for the better part of a year. I saw there the kind of dogged determination it took to create and sustain a life as a potter. I then returned to Berea as a graduate assistant and met my once and future husband, Andy Balmer, when he came into the pottery wearing a cowboy hat. We have lived and made pots in Oregon for 30 years. Along the way, we raised twin sons, and Andy became a tile-maker. I’ve always worked with porcelain, with the goal of making mostly unadorned, contemplative pots with a palette much like hen eggs, especially Araucana eggs. My grandmother raised hens, and my first experience as a young girl of tangible beauty was collecting eggs in a basket.
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