Pat grew up in North Dakota where her interest in art, drawing and writing helped fill the long winters days.

 

After high school she moved to Arizona, then to California where she studied art and graduated with a degree in Fine Art from UCLA with an emphasis on sculpture. Pat returned to Arizona and took a ceramics class, where she worked with clay for the first time and quickly decided it was her medium of choice. 

 

For her organic, hand built ceramic forms she prefers atmospheric firings and a sparse application of glaze. Currently her focus is on the ancient wood firing process that takes place once a year at the Douglas campus of Cochise College. Her work shown at the HAA Gallery is all wood fired from the past few years. The process is exciting and demanding. The results are unpredictable, unique and difficult to replicate.