Ani Kasten - Host Potter

Investigating the materiality of the clay is the foundation and focal point for all of my vessels, sculptures and assemblages. I am influenced by natural and geological imagery, and my forms and compositions explore the meeting point of natural occurrence and the human hand. I use wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques to explore the spectrum, breadth and limits of clay.

The interactions and relationships between differing clay bodies, which include black or white stoneware clay, porcelain, and locally sourced ‘wild clays,’ as well as various types of stone added for texture, are what interest me, as metaphors for more human interactions and relationships. How does porcelain melt with, reject, bend or shrink in response to the proximity of stoneware, or islands of rock? My pieces expose the natural tendencies of unadorned clay in conversation with crafted attention to form and surface detail.

The work uses clay and other ceramic materials as a metaphor for investigating relationships—our actions as human beings as we form emotional bonds, build, construct and engage with the world around us, both in harmony or disharmony with nature. Eroding, cracking, shifting and transformation are communicated through the vocabulary of ceramic materials.

The vestiges of functional objects in my sculptural and vessel work possess ‘hereditary memory’ in their obscured reference to utilitarian objects and artifacts that once had a purpose, now buried, lost and eroded by time. My ceramics manifest temporal beauty infused with loss, change and the rigors of passing time.

My practice is about building, making, creating positivity from the surrounding landscape of unavoidable brokenness. In my process I look for the refined within the rough, the beauty in ugliness—forms imbued with extreme fragility yet exhibiting inner strength, manifesting the contradictions and opposing forces we find in ourselves throughout the human experience.

29815 Unity Ave, Shafer, MN 55074
Showroom open by appointment

ani@anikasten.com
www.anikasten.com
Visit Ani's webshop
Instagram: @anidagmar

Natasha Alphonse, Seattle, WA

Natasha Alphonse is a Seattle based artist, making functional ceramics focused on minimal and earthy design. She is a First Nations artist, from the Dene tribe and comes from Northern Saskatchewan. Her work pulls from nature and her childhood memories of growing up in a remote and wild landscape. Working to always find visual grounding balance in the forms, she uses atmospheric firing processes to add a rustic and earthy quality to the surfaces.

tasha@alphonsestudio.com
alphonsestudio.com
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Instagram: @natashaalphonse

Sam Chung, Phoenix, AZ

I work within the context of the vessel to harness its universal identity and express a vision that merges historical, contemporary and cultural influences. I am driven by the desire to find connections between diverse forms of creative expression, ranging from art, traditional craft, and design. My current work is influenced by Korean art and design, with the cloud serving as a metaphor for the liminal space of navigating between two cultures. These cultural references in my forms and designs act as an anchor, connecting to my own ethnic lineage while simultaneously questioning my sense of belonging within or outside of it.

sam.chung@asu.edu
www.samchungceramics.com
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Instagram: @sammychung70

Steven Young Lee, Helena, MT

Steven Young Lee is a contemporary artist living in Helena, Montana. He was the Director of the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts for 16 years where he maintained an active studio practice along with orchestrating an organization devoted to excellence in ceramics. In 2004-05, he lectured and taught at numerous universities throughout China as part of a cultural and educational exchange in Jingdezhen, Shanghai and Beijing and spent two months in Seoul, South Korea studying ceramic tradition and history. In 2005-6 he was a visiting professor at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver, B.C.

Lee has lectured extensively in North America and Asia. In the fall of 2016 he was one of four artists featured as part of the Renwick Invitational at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. In March 2013 he participated on a panel, "Americans in the Porcelain City," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Also in 2013, he was one of several international artists invited to participate in “New Blue and White,” an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, MA featuring contemporary artists working in the blue-and-white tradition. In 2019, he had a solo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum. In 2021, his work was included in “Crafting America,” a survey of contemporary craft at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and OBJECTS:USA 2020 in partnership with R&Co in New York, NY. In 2023, his work was featured in “Conversing in Clay: Ceramics from the LACMA Collection” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Most recently in 2024, he was a featured artist in the exhibition “Immigration of Ceramics” in Gwangju, South Korea at the Asian Cultural Center and the Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Icheon, South Korea.

Lee’s work has been collected by the Smithsonian Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Newark Museum of Art, the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, the Everson Museum of Art, the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul, Korea, and many private and public collections. Lee earned his BFA and MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University.

steveylee@mac.com
www.stevenyounglee.com
Instagram: @stevenylee

Connee Mayeron, Shafer, MN

After 50 years of working with clay, my appreciation of the visual stories that nature presents is a constant conversation in my work. As an artist, I love the journey of discovery. In the world of ceramics, we are using clay that comes from the earth, and is then formed into a work of art. Food or flowers will most likely have a relationship with functional pots, and I enjoy the idea of that specific relationship. I strive for integrity and spontaneity with each piece, and the clay is the conduit for my unconscious conversation. My relationship with clay is ever changing, and this is what always keeps me excited and engaged as an artist

connee@mayeroncowles.com
www.mayeroncowles.com
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Instagram: @constancemayeroncowles_studio

Candice Methe, Rockland, ME

The foundation of my work is the presence of the hand. When I coil and pinch the clay I leave marks as I build the forms, which act as a record of intention. Working in this way makes the process slow and allows me to spend time considering how the anatomy of the vessel comes to life through line, form, and surface. With every piece I strive for subtle, soft, surfaces and the deliberate execution of shapes that move between discreet profiles and dramatic contours. While making, I am more interested in an improvised conversation with these components, rather than a pre-conceived formula. The content of these vessels is embedded in this decision as well as the delicate interplay of formal elements and external influences.

candicemethe@gmail.com
www.candicemethe.com
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Instagram: @candice_methe

Liz Pechacek, Inver Grove Heights, MN

I am interested in a deliberate and methodical exploration of form using hand building techniques. I find the form by slowly adding coils and adjusting with a hammer as the profile emerges. Working intuitively, the objects tend to acquire a sensuous volume stippled by the frenetic energy of so many fingermarks. I like to use very rudimentary homemade tools, finding inspiration in slow, focused labor. Once the piece is dry, I apply washes of color, line, and dots in a playful re-examination of the form through the surface. I celebrate the beauty of the bare clay, and strategically use many different clay bodies as part of the design. I strive to make my pots, sculpture, and tiles exude a constrained energy-quiet from afar, but frenetic at closer examination.

erpechacek@gmail.com
www.lizpechacek.com
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Instagram: @Lizpechacek

Lilith Rockett, Portland, OR

My interests are in material and form. With porcelain as my main medium, I create objects for use in both home and commercial settings. Tableware, lighting, sculptural vases, all minimal in form and surface, create landscapes, light and shadow, weight and balance, subtle variations in curves and edges. I began working with and fell in love with porcelain because of all of its material qualities: translucency, fluidity, density and luminosity. My work is often unglazed, allowing the porcelain to express itself as well as revealing the marks of my hands and tools. Both the quiet and organic nature of the unglazed porcelain please me as they attract attention in small and surprising ways. These small details matter to me, the tiny anomalies that give a piece its own distinct character.

Narrative becomes embedded in the final pieces, however subtle. In recent years I have expanded my practice to include atmospheric firings, both with wood and wood/soda. I was drawn in by the potential of working in community, in a more unpredictable environment, thus creating even more narrative interest in the pieces by connecting it more closely to natural processes. My practice is ever growing and changing, and my most recent experimentation is with wild materials. I am interested in how I can deepen this relationship between form and material. These narratives will not always be obvious, but they will hopefully inspire questions about our natural environment and some wonder and respect for the earth we inhabit. It seems that as technology advances toward more disconnection from the physical, I head in the opposite direction. I value attention, slowness and presence and hope my work can inspire that in others.

lilithrockett@gmail.com
www.lilithrockett.com
Visit Lilith's webshop
Instagram: @lilithrockett