Studio Cycles Pictorial 2014

Kristen Kieffer tumbler and wild daisies  Demonstrating with Chandra DeBuse (l) and Kristen Kieffer (r) at St. Pete's ClayKristen Kieffer Indigo plate details  Kristen Kieffer new stamps, florals and beesHannah  Kristen Kieffer teapots in progressKristen Kieffer Stamped vases  Taping the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler podcast w. Michael Kline (l), Julia Galloway (m), and Kristen Kieffer (r)Kristen Kieffer bisqueware in progress  Kristen Kieffer chop signatures, cup mandalaDemonstrating with Kathy King (l) and Kristen Kieffer at Southern IL U., Carbondale  Poster girl, The State of Clay exhibition, MA, Kristen Kieffer Grande jarKristen Kieffer sketchbook  Kristen Kieffer glaze testingWorkshop tools  Vases and Visiting Artist month at The Archie Bray FoundationKristen Kieffer wall pillows in progress, May at the Bray  Kristen Kieffer studio influencesKristen Kieffer Screen Vase detail  Demonstrating with Matt Long (l), Adam Field (m), and Kristen Kieffer at the Mary Anderson Center, INKristen Kieffer's pots as contour drawings, studio  Kristen Kieffer flower brick stages in progressKristen Kieffer test tiles  Kristen Kieffer Cherry cup detailKristen Kieffer sketchbook drawings  Kristen Kieffer Arabesque mod tumblers in progressKristen Kieffer Arabesque mod plates in progress  Kristen Kieffer

This is my fourth, year-end roundup of goings-on images from my studio and on the road as a workshop presenter, and this year, Visiting Artist. It’s fun for me to look back on the collection of images I’ve shared, and reflect on what’s continued from past years and what was new in 2014 for me as maker. These are just a selection of favorites I posted throughout the year on my Facebook and Instagram. As with past years, it’s not an order, it’s a cycle.

As always, thank you for your continued support of my work and studio.
A happy, healthy New Year to you and yours!

Garden Influence & Flora Faves

Kieffer Deluxe clover cup in Periwinkle Kieffer Small covered jar detail in Grape Kieffer Plate detail w. leaf pattern Kieffer Flower brick detail in Cornflower blue Kieffer Screen vase pair detail in Yellow pear Kieffer Pillow tile detail of Lilac pattern in Frost

Details of my pots above: Deluxe clover cup, Small covered jar, Large plate,
Flower brick, Screen vase pair, & Wall pillow tile.

More flowers have been popping up on my work in the last couple of years. And why not? I love them! In the dead of a Massachusetts winter, I long for spring and summer, and daydream about those floriferous seasons by placing a little bit of them on my pots.

Penstemon & Eupatorium Knautia Geranium & sedum Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla Allium bulgaricum Heuchera and dicentra

First row: Penstemon & Eupatorium, Knautia, and Sedum & Geranium.
Second row: Alchemilla, Allium bulgaricum, and Heuchera.

I am completely preoccupied with being outside during this time of year, specifically, with being in or sitting beside my flower garden. I wrote about my lovely distraction four years ago in this Perennial Influence post, which still perfectly articulates every sentiment I have for gardening, so I hope you’ll give it a read. A recent pic I posted to my Facebook Page of my main perennial bed and the corresponding number of thumbs up seems to indicate a universal need and appreciation for beauty and diversion, so I thought I’d do an updated pictorial from garden.

Dicentra & Lamium Sedum Nepeta Spirea & Knautia Digitalis & Knautia  Heuchera, Hosta & Fern

First row: Dicentra & Lamium, Sedum, and Nepeta.
Second row: Spirea, Digitalis & Knautia, and Heuchera, Hosta & Fern.

I seem to think about my plantings very similarly to how I think about my pots: How do they look from farther away, as well as close up? What colors best compliment a grouping? What shapes and textures add to the whole? Which are heartbreakers not worth the effort, and which make me the most happy?

Salvia Lupine Dogwood, Heuchera, Geranium & Hosta Ilex Hosta Patriot  Dicentra

First row: Salvia, Lupine, and Geranium, Heuchera, & Red-twig dogwood.
Second row: Ilex, Hosta (Patriot), and Dicentra.
All images courtesy of my gardens.

Happy Summer!
Below are detail pix of pottery and sculpture faves that have hugs & kisses of flora.

Michael Connelly Matt Wedel McKenzie Smith Makoto Kagoshima Baraby Barford Kurt Anderson Michael Kline Michael Sherrill Steve Colby

First row: Michael Connelly, Matt Wedel, and McKenzie Smith.
Second row: Makoto Kagoshima, Baraby Barford, and Kurt Anderson
Third row: Michael Kline, Michael Sherrill, and Steve Colby.

Needlework as Influence

Kristen Kieffer Flower bricks Embroidery patterns in Periwinkle and Green

Fashion (from all eras, Elizabethan to Couture) has been a long-time influence for my work. The structure and detail of clothing inspire my own functional pottery forms and their decoration. Basically, there is always something new for me to uncover from clothing and textiles as influence. My most recent revelation is the expansive genre of needlework, which includes everything from crochet and embroidery to a myriad of techniques I’ve only begun to learn.

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cup in GrapeI own pillow cases tatted by my Grandma and Great Grandma, love quilts of all kinds, and knew that some of the 18th century clothes I adore had embroidery, but I’ve only just recently tuned into the wide-ranging variety of needlework design as influence, particularly for slip-trailing. I’ve been collecting needlework pix and details here with some faves below. New adventures into deco have begun!

Flower bricks and cups as pictured above, as well as other pots with deco influenced by embroidery and quilt appliqué are available in my online Etsy shop.

Detail of Look 8, Erdem Spring 2013 Ready-to-Wear  Crochet flora  Embroidery flowers Sashiko embroidery  Aemilia ars needlelace  [Micro] quiltingCourt Suit embroidery detail, c. 1770-85  Antique Carolina lily applique quilt detail c. 1880  Reticella samples

Rollover or click on the images above for details. Pictured: Crochet, embroidery, sashiko, aemilia ars lacework, quilting, applique, and reticella.

Travel Influences & Favorites, Pt. I

March – August 2010: PA, MA, NC, TN, & NYC

 
  

The images above are the very few I took during my minimal outings at NCECA in Philadelphia, and include some favorite pieces from a quick jaunt through the PMA (Philadelphia Museum of Art) and one great building somewhere in the city with curved leaded windows. (You can see more of my favs from the PMA here.)

         

The next group of pictures is from jaunts near my home. The first two are from a building in Amherst, MA. I love the tall, slender windows and contrast of brick and stone. The second is a detail of the stone and how they used brick dust in the mortar leaving the stones looking like they are outlined in hot pink.  The rest of the images are from two visits to Historic Deerfield in central Massachusetts not far from our home.  Since I wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the historic homes, most of the pics (except the barn detail and canopy bed detail) are from pieces in the visible storage cases of their museum.  I see different things in each image, from ideas for form and detail to appreciation for handmade and craft like the last two images of the mended bowl and plate.

 
 

These last images are a favorite each of something I saw while teaching at the Penland School of Arts & Crafts (the garden bottle tree in Bakersville) and the Appalachian Center for Crafts (one of the many hand-painted signs on campus) this summer. And last but not at all least are two images of the Statue of Liberty I took when I did a lecture for the Brooklyn Potters Guild.

I’m getting better not only at remembering to take my camera with me, but actually remembering to take pictures as well, and hope to share more of what I see and figuratively bring home to my studio with you here.

Postcard Retrospective

kk_08_postcard
Small covered jars*, 2008
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Stamped cups, 2007
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Wire flower brick*, 2005
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Flower boat (Corset series), 2003
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Lady vase, 2002
KK_gradschool_postcard_2001
Tea set, Flower basket and Pourer with Saucer, 2001

I have had a “publicity” postcard made every year or two since 2001.  (There are two other postcards from ’95 and ’98 I’ll have to dig up for another—more humorous—post.)  The two most recent cards, with the jars and cups, are cone 7 electric; the others are cone 10 soda reduction.  The image directly above is my MFA graduation show card from Ohio University.  Six postcards of work from four different studios.  It’s interesting to see how things have changed, most notably after my thesis card, going from what I see as just “ornate” to more “elegant”.  Aside from additional layering, the surfaces haven’t changed a lot, but the lines that define the forms have.  They are more crisp and where I see the elegance happening.  I was the photographer for all of these too, baring witness to the transition from film to digital.

*If you would like a postcard, I would like for you to have one.  My most current 2008 Covered jar postcard and the 2005 Flower Brick postcard are still available.  (The former because it’s still new and the latter because a printing error left me with 2500!)  Simply drop me an email with “Postcard” in the subject line, your mailing address in the body, and specify which card: 2008, 2005 or both.  I would love for you to have a pot, but this is a nice precursor, and something you can actually hold in the meantime.

onelovelyblogawardThank you to Charan Sachar of the great Creative with Clay blog for presenting me with one of his Lovely Blog Awards.  I appreciate the friendly acknowledgment!