Today we’d like to introduce you to Katie West.
Katie, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I grew up, in Elkhart, Indiana, believing that I was the only person not artistic in my family. Even when I took my first ceramics class in high school, I had the most lopsided and unpleasing pieces to look at. I kept taking ceramic classes anyway because I had friends that took it, but also because my lack of skill frustrated me and challenged me to create the images I saw in my head. As time passed by, I began to realize that clay was a slow learning process that I needed to have the patience and motivation to grasp, which luckily, I did. When I finally became familiar with the techniques of the wheel, glazing, and the rules of clay, it all felt very natural to me. I have not been able to stay away from clay since, and am now entering my senior year of college studying studio arts and small business entrepreneurship.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I am a clay enthusiast, so I create functional pottery on the wheel, hand-build decoration pieces, and all types of different sculptures. Each and every one of these processes of clay is very therapeutic for me, and these different techniques widen the horizons of what I can make with clay.
If there is anything that I would like people to take away from my art at this time, it’s that there is beauty within simplicity. Simplicity allows there to be harmony and structure, as well as allows me to master the craft of my art. This does not mean that there is no deeper meaning because there is no complexity, but that the obvious meaning is being subtracted out of the art.
What would you recommend to an artist new to the city, or to art, in terms of meeting and connecting with other artists and creatives?
Something that held me back from connecting with other artists when I was in high school was my inability to stop comparing my art to others. Everyone’s art is completely unique from one another, and we all have different techniques and perspectives that we use.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://westpottery.onuniverse.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ktwestpottery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ktwestpottery/
Image Credit:
Kaitlyn West
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