Bio

I grew up in both Illinois and Iowa along the Mississippi river. I was introduced to art and clay at a young age. I remember ordering drawing books and pencils from a magazine and how excited I was when it came. However, I knew at a young age I wanted to join the Marine Corps; I did right after high school.

I was stationed in Camp Pendleton, CA with the Raiders, Bravo 1/1 a Zodiac company and SOC unit. SOC is an acronym for Special Operation Capable unit. I was with them for two years as a Assult Climber. After returning from my first deployment two months later I deployed with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion as a Scout. We deployed Augest, 1990 the beginning of Desert Shield and then Storm. I got out of the Marine Corp after a challenging, tense, yet rewarding four years. I still have a band of brothers who I served with out there Semper Fi. I received an honorable discharge September, 1992.

Soon after I got out, I attended a community college in Moline IL and was reintroduced to clay. I found the wheel very therapeutic, but I was very restless and coping with the impact of war and now being a civilian.

In 1993 I moved to Florida for change and found a career. I started working in fine dining kitchens. I started at the bottom and quickly moved to running crews and kitchens. I loved the creative nature of the culinary arts, the pressure of working in a busy kitchen with high standard. The camaraderie of a well-oiled team of chefs reminded me of the military. In the restaurant business I found a home for the time being. You work hard but you also play hard, perfect. However, the best thing to happen to me in the business was meeting Mara.

I met Mara in 1993 in Jupiter, Florida at Da Beach, a restaurant bar on the intercoastal were we both were waiting tables. We married 1997. We both attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. I attended The School of Fine Arts at SIUC. I was in the Ceramics program. Mara was teaching and getting her Masters in English Literature. We later moved to Sky Valley in Georgia and lived there for a couple years. From GA we went to Vermont where Mara attended Vermont Law and received her Law Degree and a Masters in Environmental Law. We left Vermont with Mara’s degrees and two girls Willow a toddler and Lily a baby.

At age 36 I was diagnosed with stage three lung cancer. I thank God, my doctors, and my family for my recovery. The carcinogenic found in the tumor was linked to the Gulf War. In 2014 I was diagnosed with PTSD. I attended therapy several times a week for nearly two years at the VA Hospital. I’m still trying to find that path straight through the middle.

Today Mara and I live in Palm Beach County. We are proud parents of two teenage girls, Willow and Lily, and of our son Atticus who is in elementary school. I took 13 years off from clay after the lung cancer. In 2018 I started working in clay again and established Finsbury Studio. Mara practices law at a great firm; that gives us the ability for me to be a stay at home dad and gives me the ability to be a ceramic artist.