Hi lovely peeps!

My name is Abby and, you guessed it… I’m an artist! I grew up in a small town called Rockford, Michigan, but now live in Cairns, Australia, where I work as a scuba instructor on the Great Barrier Reef. When I’m not on the reef, you can find me making pottery whenever I’m ashore.

My love for art started when I was young, spending time with my eccentric Aunt Regina at her studio, Ms. Art Studio. Her studio was a place where she could completely let her creativity take over, and I was lucky enough to grow up making things alongside her. She was a glass fusion artist, but that also meant she had a kiln and would fire my little hand built pottery creations.

As a kid, I was never scared of getting art wrong. My Aunt Regina made me feel like anything was possible as long as I thought about the process of creating first. Looking back, that was such a gift. I got to make art without rules, boundaries, or worrying about whether it was “good.” Whenever my mom picked me up from the studio, I would be buzzing to show her what I had made. Between my crafty aunt and my supportive parents, I grew up feeling like I could make anything.

Fast forward to after covid, when I was looking for a new hobby. I signed up at a community pottery studio in East Lansing, Michigan, to add some excitement to my life while I studied. I took up wheel throwing but, honestly, didn’t love it at first, as my patience was low and my practice was scarce. But you can see the pattern: pottery is one of those things that keeps pulling me back.

Now, I spend many hours practicing on the wheel and working out of a community pottery club, where I’m surrounded by other like minded artists. Pottery feels like a way to take the beauty and weirdness I see in the ocean and turn it into something people can actually use. I love creativity mixed with functionality because, honestly, we all have enough factory produced shit in our houses. We don’t need more clutter. What we do need is unique, useful, slightly unhinged art that makes everyday life a little more fun.

So, welcome to Ashore Pottery, and thanks for stopping by and supporting my work. I’m excited to share what comes out of the kiln next.