Tag Archives: pollinator series

Pollinators, Flora & Fauna

5 May 2019

 

Just in time for Mother’s Day*, graduation, wedding, and ‘just because’ springtime shopping and gifting, I have updated my online shop with all things spring.

I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking of spring and flowers and pollinators (a series I began in 2013/14 with a bat, which are indeed important pollinators!), and have made cups with honeybees, ladybugs, bats, Monarchs, dogwood & cherry blossoms, and more. This latest update also features new pierced vases of which I’m quite delighted, as well as planters. All feel fresh, new, happy, and very spring-y. Stop in and have a look around! And thank you as always for buying and gifting from my studio.

Kieffer Ceramics Shop

*Please note: Last day to purchase for Mom’s Day delivery
is no later than Noon, Tues, 5/7.

 

AND SAVE THE DATE!
New Englanders, shop IN PERSON at my Spring Studio Sale,
May 18th & 19th here in north, central Massachusetts.
Details here.

Studio Cycles Pictorial 2015

31 December 2015

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Kristen Kieffer Arabesque mod tumbler in action  Kristen Kieffer stamped mug with blue flowers in progressKristen Kieffer bowls in progress  Kristen Kieffer covered jar in progressKristen Kieffer glaze test tiles  Kristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cups Stripe Dot Floral in progressKristen Kieffer dessert plate and cup in action  Kristen Kieffer Arabesque mod tumblers in actionKristen Kieffer dogwood stamp and sketches  Kristen Kieffer dogwood yunomi with lady bug in progressKristen Kieffer standing to throw in home studio  Kristen Kieffer loaded kiln and empty ware shelvesKristen Kieffer sketch book of cups  Kristen Kieffer new glaze color, Buttercup YellowKristen Kieffer slip-trail detail on covered jar in progress  Kristen Kieffer pitcher in shadowKristen Kieffer Monarch butterfly stamp  Kristen Kieffer stamped cupcake mug in progressKristen Kieffer pierced fruit basket in progress  Kristen Kieffer stamped mug in actionKristen Kieffer stamped Rooster mug  Kristen Kieffer stamped mug with hedgehogKristen Kieffer stamps  Kristen Kieffer stamping mugs in home studioKristen Kieffer Super Stripe Deluxe Clover cups  Kristen Kieffer yunomi in black and redKristen Kieffer with workshop participants from View Art Center, Old Forge, NY  Kristen Kieffer wall pillows in progressKristen Kieffer teapots in progress  Kristen Kieffer fruit basket

This is my fifth, year-end roundup of in-progress and in-action images from my studio and of my pots, plus a workshop image for good measure. 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 2015 for me as a maker (lots!). 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!

‘Valenspringtine’!

27 January 2015

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Kristen-Kieffer-Valenspringtine-Deluxe-clover-cupsThoughts of spring and Valentine color –specifically looking beyond winter– is what inspired my work over the last six weeks, buoying my spirits during the cold, short days of December in Massachusetts. This Friday, I will be posting over 40 cups, plates, and bowls of my foray into what I’ve been calling ‘Valenspringtine’ (a mashup of ‘spring’ and Valentine’) pots into my online shop. Being surrounded by candy pink and cherry red, and new collage-like patterns has certainly helped me with the winter doldrums, and I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have. Check out my latest blog post to read a bit more about the new here.

40+ Valenspringtine pots available Friday, January 30th
at Noon EST in my online Etsy shop!

Happy Valenspringtine! ♥

Kristen Kieffer Large plate Arabesque mod in Red  Kristen Kieffer Yunomi w. Honey bee and Colorized flower, Pollinator seriesKristen Kieffer Yunomi Colorized cherries w. Green stripes  Kristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cup ValenspringtineKristen Kieffer Tumbler Arabesque mod in Pink  Kristen Kieffer Yunomi Red tulips and Pink stripesKristen Kieffer Yunomi Valentine striped hot air balloons  Kristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cup w. StripesKristen Kieffer Large plate Floral Stripe Dot set  Kristen Kieffer Bowl Floral DotKristen Kieffer Valenspringtine yunomi

‘Valenspringtine’ In Progress

13 January 2015

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Kristen Kieffer yunomi (in progress) w. flowers, Colorized series  Kristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cup (in progress), Arabesque modern seriesKristen Kieffer Deluxe clover cup (in progress) w. stripes and polka dots  Kristen Kieffer yunomi (in progress) w. Honey bees, Pollinator series

Pictured are my in-progress, Deluxe clover cups and Yunomi
at the leatherhard stage with completed decoration.

December tends to be a quieter time in my studio, a month I try to use for play and development in the midst of ongoing deadlines. For the last six weeks, I’ve focused on color, specifically more.

Around 2012, I began to add hand-brushed color in my stamp patterns, from bits to a bit more. Since this past spring, I’ve been hand-brushing several colors into one or two whole stamps (an image stamp vs. an abstract pattern) creating what I refer to as my Colorized Series. For me, the dazzling color from one completely colored image creates a focal point. The surrounding, uncolored stamps feel wistful and softer, like memories. Hand-coloring every stamp would be prohibitively time-consuming, but more importantly, full color on every image would feel commercial. I want to entice the cup’s owner to turn it ’round in the hand to find, appreciate, and ponder each honey bee (above), for example, colored and uncolored.

The delightful reception to my new Colorized cups encouraged me to delve deeper into cherry reds and cupcake pinks during my December play month. I’m a huge lover of color, but the technical logistics of color in ceramics, in addition to my general glacial aesthetic growth (in no small part because I allow myself to be a precise maker) slowed my figuring of how exactly to bring color to my pots. Suffice it to say, color is happening!

This particular color palette and my ongoing desire for it to be spring year-round (which does not happen here in Massachusetts) lead me to spend my six weeks of play on Valentine-inspired cups, a new series with colorful shapes I’m calling Arabesque Mod (a nod to my love of Islamic art, juiced with contemporary color and mod flair), new flower stamps, and as many polka dots and stripes as I could fit on a cup (above).

The ‘Valentine/Spring in Feb’ or ‘Valenspringtine’ cups, tumblers, and few tableware pieces will be listed in my online shop on Friday, January 30th at noon EST.

The Buzz!

25 September 2014

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Kristen Kieffer Stamped cups with honey bees

The new addition to each my ‘pollinator’ and ‘colorized’ series is here: the honey bee! I made just three (Yellow Pear, Frost, and Spring Green) this round, and will post them in my online Etsy shop at 9 AM EST on Saturday (9/27).

The bee is the latest addition to my collection of stamps I design and make (accompanied by a flower and honeycomb stamp too on the Frost cup). I hand-brushed one on each side, which brings a focal point as well as dreamy dissolve to the cup pattern as a whole. I’ll write more about each series soon, but suffice to say –in my Victorian modern style– I am celebrating the incredible honey bee as an important part of our ecosystem with an additional nod to the Egyptian belief in them as a symbol for royalty.