Valenspringtine 2016

28 January 2016

Last year, I posted six weeks of pottery investigation celebrating thoughts of Valentine color and springtime imagery into my online shop, an event I coined as Valenspringtine. It was so fun and successful, I decided to give it a go again this year, perhaps making it an annual post of my winter play. As with last year, this winter’s pursuits included new forays into surface deco, as well as form with Compotes (pedestaled serving bowls for fruits, nuts, and sweets), Cake & Cupcake Stands, new Deluxe Clover cups, and a couple other goodies totaling almost 30 pots.

Valenspringtine 2016 goes live Friday, January 29th
at Noon EST in my online Etsy shop!*

Happy Valenspringtine! ♥

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Super Stripe Red w. Tulip

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Cup Colorful Polka Dots

Kristen Kieffer Stamped mugs Blue Flowers

Kristen Kieffer Cupcake stand in Buttercup

Kristen Kieffer Compote Pedestal Fruit Bowl

Kristen Kieffer Deluxe Clover Cup Black dots w. Tulips

*Helpful tips: If not already registered, set up an Etsy account to purchase. ‘In cart’ does not equal ‘in hand.’ First to complete their payment makes the nab. Refresh your browser to make sure you are seeing all that are listed and available.

Worcester Living Highlight

26 November 2013

2 Comments

Worcester Living cover, Winter issue 2013

Worcester Living title page with Kristen Kieffer

Pictured: Left, Worcester Living cover, Winter 2013 issue.
Right, me on the article title page throwing in my studio, p. 51.

I’m delighted to share a local feature about me, my work and studio in the article “12 Crafters to know in Central Mass” for the new issue of Worcester Living magazine.

Author Julia Quinn Szcesuil wanted to highlight artists who live, work, and sell in Worcester County, but have also developed a following and sales nationally through online shops and social media. She did a great job summarizing my thoughts as a maker (which you can read by clicking the image left), and photographer Tom Rettig did a great job of getting me to smile.

Central MA-ers can always find my work in Worcester at the Worcester Center for Crafts where I also teach adult community pottery classes, as well as visit my my biannual home studio sales here in Templeton, usually in early May and early November. (To receive updates about new work, studio sales, and more, sign up for my not-too-frequent enewsletter, connect with me on Facebook, and/or subscribe to my blog in the upper right of my website.)

And everyone can shop my online Etsy store, which is open and chock-full for the holidays with a few new pots to come in early December!

Garden Influence & Flora Faves

21 June 2013

2 Comments

Kieffer Small covered jar detail in Grape

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

In Progress—New Tile forms

24 April 2008

1 Comment

Though only two shown are complete, today I finished five new sized and shaped tile forms: three are larger rectangles, and two are a new arched form. (They currently measure 11″h x 7 1/2″w x 2″d in this leatherhard stage, but have some shrinking to do.) I continue to be very excited about these wall/mantel pieces. They are one of the most enjoyable forms I make.

The tiles are more than just canvases for pattern. The forms themselves are intriguing to me; soft with edges, like a torte. I enjoy how they poof out from the wall, or belly out on a tabletop. I particularly like them in groupings. Most are made in a series intended to work together, though they rarely stay together. The ones I finished today are intended to alternate between the two shapes. The palette has already been determined (even before the surfaces were complete), so that all five will be a different color.

I treat the surfaces more like collage than clay decoration. Each one has four to five layers that overlap and intermingle, including content. Three of the new tiles have animals (rabbits and bunnies, chubby birds, and owls), and text (“THICKLY SETTLED”*, “SQUEEZE RIGHT”* and “CRYSTALLIZE”). There is really too much going on with these for one post, so I will have to discuss my interest in words and text, and animals in another at some point.

By the way, three of the rectangle tile forms on the Wall/Mantel Pieces page are available and in need of a loving home: (Untitled) (ivory), SHY/Owl (lime) and CAKE (frost). Clerestory on the New Work page is also available. Drop me an email if you have questions and would like to purchase one. The vault form, HEAVY-DUTY and small square tiles are currently on exhibition and for sale at the “Made In Clay” show at Greenwich House Pottery in NYC through 4/30.

*These amusing phrases are from street signs that seem to be particular to Massachusetts (or New England) where I have lived since 2001. When I first saw a sign reading, “THICKLY SETTLED”, I thought it meant something about the pavement. It refers to areas that are densely populated, so you need to watch your speed. “SQUEEZE RIGHT” (or left) means “merge”. (I’ve used them here in my work to signify other meanings, however.)