I was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. I was fortunate to be encouraged and supported to pursue an artistic career by family and friends. In 1991, I enrolled in my first ceramics class at the Hartford Art School, then continued my education in the arts at the Kansas City Art Institute Alfred School of Art and Design. Eventually, I moved westward to be a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Currently, I live in Anchorage, Alaska where I’m a potter and a Professor of Ceramics at the University of Alaska Anchorage. My studio practice consists of making a variety of functional forms out of porcelain and stoneware that either subtly or directly depict my interest in old New England tobacco barns, the color of honey, 1930’s French automobiles, Native Alaskan ivory bird carvings, children’s book illustrations, Danish furniture, magpies….. I also have interests in woodworking, cooking, hiking, house remodeling, visiting museums, and traveling to see nieces and nephews in Massachusetts.
Upcoming Online Sale: Opens Saturday, May 30th at 12pm EST
( Shop Now )
Generations of Artists
The summer before I turned 18, I made the decision to build a portfolio and apply to art school. This came after three years of toiling away in restaurants with the intent on becoming a chef. I had full support of my parents as there were several artists in my family going back four generations. My mother Laureen Reilly Godfrey attended Endicott College, a two year women’s school and majored in art. Throughout her life, she has painted with watercolor, portraying scenes of Cape Cod, objects she had collected, and the mountains she saw while visiting Alaska. She also has drawn, quilted, made baskets, refinished furniture, and most recently, made masks for those at risk during the pandemic….the list of her artistic adventures is long.
My Great Grandmother, Grace Comins Reilly was born in Hadley, Massachusetts on a farm in 1890. She painted idyllic scenes of the New England countryside influenced by the painting style of Grandma Moses and the folk painter Erastus Salisbury Fields. I knew Grace quite well as she lived to 107 years old and was lucid up until a month before she passed.
Clarence C. Newell, my great great grandfather, was a home builder, painter and commercial artist. He was trained by Jonas Joseph LaValley, a professional barber who painted and taught art classes out of a backroom in his barbershop.
Professors and Mentors
My formal education as an artist began at the Hartford Art School in 1989. It was there that I took my first ceramics class with the ever inspirational Lisa Stinson. I also enrolled in several printmaking classes taught by Fred Wessel and Jim Lee. The decision as to what to major in was tough, but I eventually settled on ceramics. From Hartford, I journeyed westward to the Kansas City Art Institute and then on to graduate school at Alfred School of Art and Design. My teachers at these institutions were inspiring, intelligent, and patient. They invested energy in me as I struggled to decipher my “self”, and put me in my place when I needed it the most. I am forever grateful for them.
