Shelley and Michael Buonaiuto met while studying sculpture and painting at the University of Massachusetts in 1968.

After a few vagabond years, their spiritual search led them to the study of Gurdjieff, a Greek Caucasian spiritual master, at Chardavogne Barn in New York. There Shelley began to study pottery, making creches and small figures, and Michael, after a few years as a stone mason (in debt to his Italian ancestry) joined her in 1975, after the birth of their first child, Ben. Besides sculpting, Michael was a skilled mold-maker.

In Santa Fe, they started a cookie jar company, made bronzes and then started a line of bonded porcelain figures, while continuing to work in clay. Here in Fayetteville, Shelley and Michael have a larger studio and continue work in clay, bronze and resin.