Marilyn was born in Colorado, but has lived in Arkansas most of her life. She has worked in a wide assortment of crafts over the last thirty years. Originally, she created bottle gardens and then moved on to sewing stuffed animals and quilts. She started working in clay approximately seven years ago. She took a clay hand-building class at Terra Studios, with Rita Ward, and was immediately hooked. She soon began to experiment with making clay bird houses. She came up with the idea of impressing real leaves into the clay used for the roofs of the birdhouses. She also decided to accent the birdhouses with clay dogwood blossoms, acorns, and other touches of natural beauty. Marilyn says she loves the way the birdhouses look when they hang in her flower garden.
Marilyn also loves to create clay castles. The very first castles she made are found in the Troll Hole, which is a beautifully tiled restroom found on the grounds at Terra. She is also well known for her wonderful hanging leaf pockets and fanciful mushroom houses. Marilyn says Terra is a wonderful place to learn how to work in clay and that it is a continual source of inspiration in her own artwork.
