When I returned to Oregon, I immediately sought out membership at a local community ceramics studio and have dedicated myself to playing, exploring, and learning.

One of my more recent interests is digging into my own roots through the study of traditional Lebanese-Syrian ceramics. There isn’t a lot of information out there, as Lebanon and Syria have experienced huge population losses due to migration out of their war torn regions as well as high death tolls over multiple decades. Centuries old traditions of pot-making have been disrupted. The earliest known ceramics from the region of Lebanon dates back to 5000 BCE.

Small villages long known for holding the lineage of Lebanese ceramics, such as Rachaya al-Foukhar, have lost generations of apprenticeship, and the line of historical ceramics is currently held by only a rare few.

If it were safe for me to travel there, I would love to apprentice.

I first fell in love with throwing on the wheel in August of 2025. I was visiting my family back east, and my sister invited me to her pottery studio as a guest. She showed me how to wedge a 1.5 lb lump of clay, center and open it, pull up the walls, and give shape to the form. Luckily, no one told me how rare it could be to actually make a vessel on your first try, so I dove in with no fear and ended up making four bowls that day!