Audrey Tien

As a child in the 1930's, playing on the banks of the Conwy River in Wales, I remember the feeling of the soft clay between my toes. It felt like satin, and left an indelible memory. Little did I know at the time, a quarter of a century later, I would find myself on the other side of the Atlantic playing with clay on a potter's wheel .

In 1958 after leaving my professional nursing career in Ann Arbor, I moved to East Lansing where my time was spent raising four sons. Looking for an outlet from total immersion in domestic life, I was fortunate to read in the local Towne Courier of a group planning to meet at the EL public library to discuss starting a Potters' Guild. I joined in that discussion and became a charter member of the Guild in 1969.

My work is in porcelain and stoneware, making functional and non-functional ware, layering glazes to create depth and color, and at the same time working in a series until the original idea and theme has spent itself.