My artistic career is rooted in my experience at Northville high school where I spent four years pursuing studio ceramics. I devoted a great deal of time and energy perfecting my skill using the potter’s wheel while balancing my academics. Under the guidance of Kevin and Judy Cavanaugh and then later Michael Hoffman esteemed art faculty, I honed my skills as a functional vessel maker. I spent a majority of my free time inside the ceramics studio and, in fact I grew very close to these teachers that I still go back to give demonstrations to the current high school students. Along with my ceramic focus, I simultaneously studied welding and metallurgy under Robert Hughes at Oakland Technical School. I graduated from high school in 2000 and moved to Lansing, Michigan to continue my academic education.
     As child I was fascinated with the arts; during high school I enjoyed ceramics; which lead me to seek out a suitable art college. While taking classes in Lansing, I found a four year private art school in Detroit called the College for Creative Studies. In 2002, I was accepted to the college and started my artistic exploration. I desired to learn more about the methods that enable an art student to become a master of his or her study.
Being an off-campus transfer student, I worked extremely hard to absorb the material that my professors provided and sought additional educational opportunities beyond the schools instruction in order to make most of my experience. I decided on a Bachelor of Fine Arts, a crafts major, with a focus in ceramics. At C.C.S., the ceramics studio was my home away from home. I spent hours in the studio experimenting with all the different techniques taught by my instructors. In the fall I curved my current passion with ceramics too the new and exciting world of glass.
     In the fall of 2002 at C.C.S., I was introduced to the art of blowing hot glass. Jeffery Mack, a Master Glass Blower was my first glass teacher. In Jeff’s course, we developed basic skills and techniques geared towards a novice glass blower. Although I was not enrolled in a glass course during the spring, I continued to attend Jeff Mack’s intermediate class hoping to maintain a constant flow of information about the material. My teacher and the material glass sparked an excitement within me, leaving me hungry to learn as much as possible.
     The summer of 2003 I continued my education of the many different aspects of the craft of hand worked glass. Remembering Marc Vandenberg’s advice about glass workshops, I researched the workshop catalogs and signed up for six glass workshops at Penland, North Carolina. From June till August I was fortunate enough to receive two work-study scholarships and attend each glass workshop. The summer at Penland gave me a whole new outlook upon the artistic world in general, as well as my own personal artistic career. At Penland I received an overview of the infinite types of glass working techniques.
     In the fall of 2003 I returned to The College for Creative Studies and immediately changed my major to glass. At school I now desired to gain a technical base in the art of hand-made glass. With this basis I could then continue my prior love for functional thin-walled vessels I had previously made from clay.
     During that fall, I was presented with the opportunity to work at Furnace Hot Glass in Detroit, Michigan. This job soon turned into an internship that lasted over a year. During my experience at Furnace Hot Glass, I worked under highly skilled glass artists Chris Nordin and Michelle Plucinsky. I learned about production glass, packing & shipping, pricing, commission work, installations, and establishing a personal artistic business. The Nordin brothers, Eric and Israel, also gave me inspiration and enthusiasm about their own personal artistic careers, their company Detroit Design Center is located where Furnace Hot Glass used to reside. Working with Louie Sanchez (Furnace Hot Glass assistant, shop monitor, glass artist) on a daily basis broadened my free form blowing and my glass color working skills. Louie also gave vital information and insight into the early stages of an up and coming glass blowers artistic profession.  After completing two internships at Furnace Hot Glass in the fall, I was informed to apply for an internship opening at The Henry Ford Museum Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan.
     In June 2004 The Henry Ford Greenfield Village accepted my application for the internship position. This experience would enable me to work under close supervision of four production glass blowers: Jeff Mack, Fred Sittig, Marc Vandenberg, and Phil Yamron. At Greenfield Village I learned to explain the glass making process to guests, as well as recreate a brief historical scenario for educational purposes. Each day at Greenfield Village was a constant learning process. At the glass shop we produced eighty different early American patterned glass products ranging from; mold blown glass, pressed glass, to free blown glass. During my yearlong internship I progressed and became a very proficient assistant and skilled production glassblower. In addition, I was at Greenfield Village during a very pivotal moment; the shop underwent a three million dollar renovation which turned the village glass shop into a small glass factory. The glass production was quadrupled, and I played a vital role in the now state of the art Greenfield Village glass factory. In my experience at The Henry Ford I was able to learn, grow, teach, and explore. Upon my internship completion June in 2005, the glass team’s influential teachings helped me to achieve the technical basis that I desired. I am grateful for the time spent working at the Museum with such talented glass artisans.
     Currently, I am finishing my Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the College for Creative Studies. This summer I plan on returning to Penland for another work-shop. I will be graduating from C.C.S. in the fall of 2006. After receiving my degree I plan on traveling across the entire world in pursuit of new and exciting adventures, plus; I want to experience first hand all art the world has to offer.