About Mimi

I trained as an apprentice to production potter June Kapos in McLean, VA. This year-long commitment gave me a strong technical grounding in both hand-building and wheel throwing. For over 40 years, I have maintained a dedicated ceramics practice. I explored the natural range of clays and their associated glazes, as well as a variety of firing techniques: pit-firing and raku, low-temperature earthenware and majolica, mid-range stoneware in oxidation, and currently, high-fired porcelain in reduction and soda kilns. These mediums yielded different expressions of embodiment, leading me to work solely in porcelain. I also found my practice moving from functional wheel-thrown pieces to sculptural hand-built ones. My extensive training in the techniques and esthetics of clay continues to influence my work, which remains grounded in the vessel form.

My work is shown at Austin Pottery Gallery and at Cloud Tree Studios and Gallery, both in Austin, TX. 

Artist Statement

Porcelain, pure white and translucent after firing, is a challenging material. Yet I need to have my hands in it. Responding to its ways leads me to the fresh and new, an outcome I am constantly seeking.

What I begin as a vessel is pinched, twisted, and distorted, moving towards the sculptural. I carve and refine this altered shape, and its organic form emerges. Within the parameters of this slow and meditative process my work unfolds and evolves.

My Sea Pod series was inspired by sea forms, shells, and ocean creatures. These pieces led to the Connector series—an exploration of how forms may be part of a whole, yet distinct—prompted by the ideas of birth, motherhood, and separation. After spending time in northern New Mexico, I found myself making the mirage-like Dream Chambers and Desert Reveries. These pieces subtly shift shape, and suggest arroyo beds, eroded desert landforms, ancient cliff dwellings.

Pinching, manipulating, and carving porcelain allows me to discover what I’m thinking and feeling about my surroundings. It is powerful and grounding when the right form emerges to match my vision.