Welcome to my website!

Computers - Beer - Pottery & Art

Let me introduce myself briefly: I was a computer programmer in the 1980's, then attended the esteemed Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology in 1988 and henceforth my career was all about beer. I spent 33.5 years as a beer professional (mostly a craft brewmaster), before switching careers again in 2022 to focus on my own art business. I stay involved in the fermented beverages industry as a beer judge and Pink Boots Society volunteer, where my chief role is Pay It Forward (PIF) Coach for our scholarship recipients..

This website has a warren of branching paths and is surprisingly deep. Sorry it looks antiquated, but I keep it up-to-date myself with Dreamweaver 4.0. If you poke around, it may reward you with hidden gems and funny stories.

You quit your job?

Yup, and I'm busier than ever. I love working, it's just that now I get to work at what I really want to work at. I'm an artist at heart. I loved the creativity of being a brewpub Brewmaster (1989-2007), and I have missed working my booth at beer festivals, speaking at beer events, and judging beer with my peers. I am decent at science, but my heart lies with art. And I always wanted to own and work exclusively on my own business.

Now I have rolled all my life experiences together: I can be a full-time artist, with a bit of science thrown in. I can utilize the business experience I've gained. And I can connect with art fans and my new tribe of fellow artists, while staying engaged in my beloved beer industry.

You're leaving beer?

Not at all! My plans to build my own small brewery in retirement went right out the window during the pandemic. The business model of "all fresh draft beer" and "if you build it they will come" failed miserably, and there's no way I wanted to take on packaging. So I sold my 2-barrel brewery (known to some as the "Lease A Nano" brewery system) to my friend John Harris at Ecliptic Brewing. The equipment that was going to be my tiny retirement nano brewery and taproom is now churning out experimental test batches as Ecliptic's pilot brewery, and I think that's just wonderful!

What will you do now?

Part of what I love about beer is the long tradition it holds within human culture, going back at least 6,000 years. Yet, before there could be fermentation, there had to be leak-proof vessels to ferment in. My plans are to build and grow my pottery business. Compared to running a brewery and taproom, this will be easy as I'll be the only employee. Pottery engages my interest in being part of another long tradition:humans who learned to work with clay and vitrify it with heat so that it could hold liquid. Once humans had clay vessels, it was just a short hop (pun intended) to fermented beverages, and thus beer was born. I feel like I get to remain part of that long history of human culture, and that makes me happy.

You have a pottery business?

Rain Dragon Studio was born during the pandemic. With no place to go and nothing to do on weekends, I had to create fun at home before I went nuts. So my husband and I built me a pottery studio in my backyard, and I became a "regular" at Georgies Ceramic & Clay in Portland, Oregon where I live. That's where I buy my clay, glazes and tools, and where I schlepped my finished work for firing (twice each piece) for two years until I bought my own kiln. Since I couldn't go anywhere on vacation because of Covid, I took "staycations" at home and worked on pottery.

Where can we see your pottery?

I'm glad you asked! Click here for my Rain Dragon Studio website. There's a whole rabbit hole for you to fall down into there, if you want to.

Where can we buy your pottery?

Thank you for asking! I show at local art festivals, and I plan to grow that part of my business over time. These are the shows I have coming up in 2022-23:

Portland Open Studios (annual)
October 8-9 and 15-16, 2022 (always 2nd & 3rd weekends in Oct)
119 artists open their studios all over Portland, including me.
6625 N Amherst Street (look for yellow signs)
Portland, Oregon
2023 dates: October 14-15 and 21-22

Rain Dragon Studio Holiday Pop-Up Online Store (annual)
November 20-December 11 (Sunday before Thanksgiving, for 3 weeks)
Preview starts a week earlier on November 13
I can only ship to USA addresses at this time.
2023 dates: November 19 - December 10

Ceramic Showcase (annual)
April 28-29-30, 2023 (always in the Spring)
150 Potters, including me, plus five more Artist's Guilds
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon
2024 dates: TBD

Artists on Amherst (annual)
July 22-23, 2023 (always Cathedral Park Jazz Fest weekend, which is the 3rd weekend in July)
Artists open their art studios on my block, including me.
6600-6900 block of N Amherst Street (look for yellow signs)
Portland, Oregon
2024 dates: July 20-21

How can we contact you?

For beer-related business: teri @ roadbrewer . com.
For pottery-related business: potter @ raindragonstudio . com

Thanks for joining me on this journey. I hope you find interesting things to read here!