Biography

Ken received his M.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I. in 1977. He accepted a Residency at The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana where he studied and taught until 1979. Returning to the east coast, he taught at The Catholic University of America until 1981. Ken and his family moved to North Carolina where he designed and built his studio and wood-fired kiln. He has lived and worked in the small mountain community of Loafers’ Glory for twenty-six years.

Backpacking and scuba diving in Central America, Bimini and Florida have influenced his work greatly. The colors and imagery of the rainforests, the tropical flowers and coral reefs of the Caribbean and the crystal clear azure of Florida’s springs have found their way to the surface of his pots!

Ken has conducted workshops at the Penland School of Crafts, John C. Campbell School, Canton Clayworks and the University of Iowa, among others.

He is a member of the Southern Highlands Handicrafts Guild, Piedmont Craftsmen, Potters of the Roan and is a co-founder and member of Ariel Contemporary Crafts Cooperative in Asheville, NC.

He exhibits predominantly in galleries located in the southeastern United States.

Most recently, he has been experimenting with a kaolin deposit discovered here in Mitchell County by Chris Boone. It is a primary kaolin marbled with other minerals. Analysis revealed it to be extremely close to Avery Kaolin which had been used by potters extensively until the mine closed. The Boone Kaolin porcelain body he developed flashes red to red-orange and blushes peach under shino glazes. It also works extremely well as a slip. Boone Kaolin, dug right out of the bank, contains natural impurities which the mining process usually removes. This still has the good stuff in it!

Ken is available to teach formal workshops and small private groups.

Artist Statement

A runner is strongest just before he breaks down.  The idea is getting up on that edge and staying as long as you can.  In my pottery, that edge is the struggle between surface and form. Never pitting weak against strong but always strong against strong, a dynamic surface rich in imagery and color can be created. In the last few years my family and I have spent quite a bit of time backpacking and scuba diving in Central America and Florida. The colors and imagery of the rainforests, the tropical flowers and the coral reefs of the Caribbean and the crystal clear azure of Florida’s springs have influenced my work greatly.

An early key choice was using the wood-fired kiln, a firing process more common in Eastern pottery tradition that western. Unlike firing in a gas or electric kiln, firing in a wood kiln is an eighteen to twenty-two hour process that demands constant attention. It requires gradually bringing the heat to 2300 degrees. One must focus on the kiln and the atmosphere in the kiln for it must be stoked at just the right moment. Wood firing means allowing the process to take some part in the aesthetics of the work. The variables in wood firing are infinite, and one gives in to chance. There are three to four months of work in every firing and there are no guarantees. It’s a continual risk.

Wood-fired pots are traditionally earthen-colored pots of subdued, reserved and muted colors, which are beautiful. My goal, however, has been to achieve color in wood firing – colors which combine with the conventional wood-fired hues to create surfaces not unlike those found in nature’s wildest fauna, flora and oceans.

Ken has been working with clay for over thirty years. He received his MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1977 and has taught at The Catholic University of America, Penland School of Crafts and John C. Campbell School. He lives and works in the small mountain community of Loafer’s Glory near Bakersville, NC, with wife Connie and sons, Noah and Galen.