Colleen Toledano, from Albion, Michigan, holds an MFA in ceramics from Ohio University and is skilled in a variety of techniques, including wheel throwing and hand building, moldmaking, woodworking and metal casting and fabrication. Colleen’s complex and thought-provoking work is centered around a fascination with beauty rituals and the many people throughout the course of history who have gladly suffered incredible pain to achieve their vision of personal beauty. Her pieces draw from historical precedents and also from the increasingly popular contemporary practices of elective surgery and do-it-yourself improvement programs.