April 2023 - NEW WOOD FIRED WORK IN GALLERY
Pottery connects us to the Earth, allowing us to commune with nature and explore its boundaries.
“ I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around. Lucky me, lucky mud.” - Kurt Vonnegut
About My Work
My intent is to create pieces that invite a conversation about line, functionality, and process and draw attention to each part of the pot: how a handle fits into a hand, the lip of a pot, how the foot terminates, the extent to which the pot lends itself to its prescribed use, and a consideration of beauty and minimalism. My work is very much influenced by both Asian and Quaker traditions. It is ever-changing, seeking out gestural lines and elegant undulation. I prefer to fire reduction with soda or salt utilizing the atmospheric properties of a wood and/or gas kiln and am particularly intrigued by how curves on a pot can simultaneously indicate both elegance and strength. For me, working with clay embodies life – its challenges and rewards and everything in-between. I hope I am further into this journey for every year or decade that I move forward with this craft.
About Kirsten
Initially, Kirsten Drummond took ceramics classes to fill out a need for undergraduate electives. However, by the end of the year, she was spending more time in the studio, pushing to be better. Perhaps not the best in her classes but still motivated, she began by learning how to handbuild while steadily practicing on the wheel. An elective turned into three electives turned into a hobby turned into a passion. Subsequent workshops at Penland School of Crafts, Haystack School of Crafts and Anderson Ranch surrounded her with breathless talent and established a permanent relationship with clay. Kirsten worked under the guidance of Sam Taylor in Massachusetts and then apprenticed with Robbie Lobell, a skilled utilitarian potter who fires cone 10 reduction. She has owned and continues to own her own studio and taught both children's and adult's classes on ceramics and nature. She has fired wood in both Naborigama and Amagama, gas, and train kilns.
“There is something special about a relationship with clay; it keeps you humble and excited in one breath, and so often happens in the community of others. Working with clay embodies all in life. Thee is the struggle to learn, the choices we make, the wonder at opening a kiln of any kind and the surprise and reflection that often follows. There is a special relationship with each pot. For me, working with clay is a must, not an option.”