Paris, Michigan

Kym works out of her home studio in Paris, Michigan. She has been a professional artist for over half her life. Her work has been shown in galleries, magazines and numerous retail locations throughout the United States, as well as featured regularly on CBS’s Sunday Morning program.

Artist Statement

I have been throwing pots for a long time. I started learning when I was 17. I have been fascinated with every aspect of the process, starting with the very first time I observed a pot being formed on the wheel. I remember thinking: “There is something magical happening here.” After all this time I still believe in the magic. In the process of throwing, there is a centering of the potter as well as the pot. There is beauty, grace, unlimited possibility, and transference of energy. There is immediate expression, co-creation, and vulnerability. A pot can expose a potter’s technical ability; but a well-thrown pot will shimmer when a potter throws with her heart as well as her hands. Throughout history pots have been utilitarian objects made to hold water or food, things that sustain our bodies. They have been made for ceremonial purposes to hold oil or ashes. I want to make pots that are mysterious, moving, timeless and magical; pots that contain food for the mind and nourishment for the soul. They are to fulfill a triple function- to not only serve the body, but the mind and spirit as well. Some people say prayers; I make pots.

"I've begun to realize that you can listen to silence and learn from it. It has a quality and a dimension all it's own. It talks to me sometimes. I feel myself alive in it. It talks and I can hear it." ~Chaim Potok, The Chosen

"A line is a dot that went for a walk."  ~Paul Klee

"Flying by the seat of my pants IS my magic carpet ride." ~me

Images of Work

Techniques

one of a kind "art pottery" hand thrown, on white or brown stoneware
hand drawn or painted surfaces using bottles and/or brushes with speedball underglazes on leather hard or bone dry clay, glazed with speedball clear glaze then fired once at cone 6 or 7 electric

Favorite Products

I was lucky enough to meet Bud Martin while I was demonstrating at a festival one year, and he asked me how I liked the underglazes that i was currently using..and I told him about some of my frustrations...he asked me if I would like to try some Speedball product. Well, I am no longer frustrated and I have been using them ever since. The colors are stable and vibrant, the underglazes flow beautifully, the clear is crystal clear, and the brushes are so nice that I reach for them every time. (much to the dismay of all my other brushes.) My work is intricate and detailed, but my process is as simple as I can make it.  I now have glazes that I love and trust, a very simple firing process that I have come to count on and clay that consistently preforms well...these things allow me the time and relieve me of the stress that occurs when looking for just the right tools and materials, to focus on the creating and the designs...that is where I find my joy.

Upcoming Workshops/Events

Editorial Feature, Pottery Making Illustrated; May/June 2018 issue--"Going with the Flow"