Hi, I’m Kim.

I took my first pottery class when I was nine, at the community center in Eugene, Oregon. My mom’s friends taught it. The first thing I made was a coil bowl for my mom. She still has it. She lives with us now, so the bowl sits in her apartment here at the house.

After that, life went other directions for a long time. I ran an import and export business, worked with artists and craftspeople in Guatemala, and sold real estate.

In 2017 I signed up for a class at Emerge on 2nd Street. Within a few months I had a studio set up at home and was making pottery nearly every day. I haven’t stopped.

How I work

Most pieces start on the wheel. Sculptures and smaller things are built by hand. I brush every coat of glaze on rather than dipping the piece. It takes longer, but it gives me the layered color I like. I make a few hundred pieces a year.

The funky fish

My funky fish have wide-open mouths and big eyes. They are thrown on the wheel, then altered and sculpted, and then the fins and eyes go on. I have been scuba diving since I was fifteen, so that may be where they come from. No two are the same. Lately there are funky turtles too.

The wall vases

One of my favorite pieces happened by accident. I was carrying a vase across the studio on a tray when it fell and broke. The broken half made a perfect vase to hang on a wall. Now I make wall vases on purpose.