In the summer of 1983, I was a high school ceramics teacher living and working in rural Indiana in search and need of a summer creative experience.  I don’t exactly recall how I heard about or discovered Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, but fortunately I enrolled in a one week ceramic workshop taught by Paula Winokur-an artist whose work I admired.  At the conclusion of that magical week, I was offered a partial scholarship to enroll in the following two-week Anagama wood firing workshop.  I knew nothing about this Japanese wood kiln, process or aesthetic and even struggled with pronouncing the word Anagama.  I knew I wasn’t ready to return to Indiana and enthusiastically accepted the scholarship.
That workshop experience along with the artists, students and administrators I met, ignited a spark of change, creating connections and opportunities that have continued to impact my life in unexpected ways.
 
I returned to Indiana with new skills, feeling more confident and motivated as a teacher and artist-but also feeling a strong internal need to do something different.  The following spring of 1984, I applied for a sabbatical to attend a five-month post graduate residency at the Appalachian Center for Crafts in Tennessee, followed with a return to Arrowmont for six weeks as a summer studio assistant.  During that summer, I fired the Anagama kiln again, helped build a new soda kiln and made several connections that directly resulted in my 1985 summer travels to Japan attending the International Workshop for Ceramic Art in Tokoname.  That experience provided an invitation to live and work with Mr. Ikehata, a traditional Japanese wood fire potter.  My duties included splitting wood and preparing glazes for the firing of his traditional Anagama kiln.  I could finally pronounce the word correctly and understand its translated meaning and history.