Blossom - 2024 Ceramics Program Grad Show & Sale

My artistic vision revolves around celebrating the beauty of clay while creating pieces that bring joy to those who use them. During my travels, I discovered various ceramic items that not only brought a smile to my face but also provided a sense of connection. Inspired by these experiences, I embarked on a quest to find similar items for my own home. Now, my passion lies in crafting pieces that evoke the same feelings in others, aiming to bring them a sense of delight and/or comfort through my creations.

Throughout my process, I embrace allowing the clay to guide me. I find that being flexible with my initial plan and going with the flow leads to results that, often, I enjoy. Many external factors, such as my mood, the music I'm listening to, or even the season, influence the final outcome of my work. However, at the core is a deep desire to celebrate the origins of the materials. I strive to respect the rawness that comes from the earth.

I've discovered that I find happiness and a connection to the clay from embracing simplicity in form and design whilst also exploring. In my own daily use, I'm naturally drawn to these simpler forms, appreciating their understated charm. With this in mind, my ultimate goal is to create pieces that become cherished favourites—the kind that people reach for every day, enhancing their daily rituals and bringing them a genuine sense of joy and fulfillment.

In September 2023, Kalyx moved back to Nelson, where she was born and raised, to complete  the ceramics program at KSA. The past 10 months of school have invited learning and play into her life.  

Kalyx draws inspiration from sewing and crochet, which were childhood passions. She will often dart or reshape wheel thrown vessels to transform the pieces completely.

Kalyx is fascinated by clay's capacity for expression, its ability to convey emotions, and its inherent duality of fragility and strength, which she passionately explores in her work. Her dedication to clay and her creative approach show how much she loves her art.

My ceramic artwork is an exploration of the interconnectedness of form, function, and beauty, driven by a lifelong dedication to learning and innovation. Embracing the opportunity to expand my skills at KSA, I experiment with diverse shapes, materials, and colors, continually pushing the boundaries of my craft. 

As a civil engineer, I draw upon my technical background to enrich my artistic journey, seamlessly integrating principles of design and construction into my creative process. The discipline of engineering instills in me a meticulous approach to planning and execution, allowing me to craft functional art that marries form with utility. Whether it's considering structural integrity, material properties, or fluid dynamics, my engineering background informs every aspect of my artistic endeavor.

While my roots are in the Canadian Prairies, my heart lies in Canada’s beautiful mountain ranges, enchanting boreal forests, and alpine meadows. This deep connection to nature fuels my artistic journey, manifested in themes of mountains and wildflowers, and the rich blues and soft pinks of my glazes. Through carving techniques, hand-drawn underglaze paintings, and slip trailing, I infuse my ceramic creations with the essence of the wilderness.

Natalie Cresswell creates work inspired by the pottery of their Azorean heritage, the food crops of southern Ontario, and the communal meals of their home on Haida Gwaii. They are inspired by calm colours and grounded forms, sometimes incorporating whimsical designs and simple natural iconography. 

Natalie is interested in woodfiring as it connects to the origins of pottery and to a sustainable future of ceramics, not to mention the stunning beauty of the flame on clay. After this year Natalie hopes to learn more about woodfiring and kiln building, before returning to the coast to create a home studio.

As a multidisciplinary creative, Selena leans into the intrinsic knowledge lent from her family who’ve dwelled in the unceded territory of the Sylix, Secwepemc, and Nlaka’pamux peoples for the past four generations. She spent her days sailing, fly fishing, and basking in the region's distinctive seasons. In practice, Selena layers inspiration derived from the Okanagan’s biome with her family’s history through colour and pattern to create a deeply rooted visual expression. 
Selena studied Fine Arts at Okanagan College, and completed the Design and Formation program at Langara College. Her passion for printmaking took her from Malaspina Printmakers in Vancouver to studying at private studios in Mexico.

She honed her skills in ceramics by studying at the Kootenay School of the Arts Ceramics program in Nelson, British Columbia. She currently practices from her studio in Kelowna, B.C.

Local ceramic artist Eva Myers-McKimm creates work characterized by clean, contemporary forms. Drawing inspiration from man-made industrial landscapes as well as patterns in nature, Eva integrates imagery and media from her childhood in BC and Alberta into her surface designs. Her current focus is on developing simple glazes that complement the form and interaction with light. She has thoroughly enjoyed exploring her craft and honing her skills this year, and looks forward to continuing her studies in the future.

As a ceramic artist, I have the privilege of transforming and shaping raw clay into objects that become integral and intimate parts of people’s lives; whether it be a cherished sculpture or a u mug you find yourself reaching for every morning. Through fluid, organic forms, and multi-dimensional, drippy glazes, I aim to capture the imperfect, unpredictable world we live in, infusing each piece with a sense of vitality and authenticity.

Growing up surrounded by my great-grandmother's meticulously crafted bronze sculptures and my mother's delicate landscape paintings, I have inherited a deep appreciation for form, texture, and the interplay between art and functionality. Drawing inspiration from their work, my functional wares are often permeated with curvaceous, sculptural elements that embody a natural elegance.

I invite viewers and users of my work to rediscover the slow-paced moments that are embedded in daily life and think about the connection between the objects we use and the unpredictable beauty of our world.

Wabie (Wabunanung, meaning “Morning Star” in Ojibway) Quayle, is a ceramic artist, based in Nelson, BC, Canada.  Born into a creative family of artists and designers, it was inevitable that she followed a similar creative path.

Wabie studied fashion design, interning at prestige fashion houses in London, England. Her ceramic designs reflect her fashion background, and often incorporate appliqué, bows, ruffles, and ornate gold details.

As a result of her time in London, experiencing quintessential tea parties, Wabie became enamoured with petite pastries, fine China and chintzy cottagecore, and opened Starbird Bakehouse, a specialty cake and pastry shop. Forever embedded with the delight of entertaining and the joy of being a part of peoples’ celebrations.

Wabie became captivated with clay, after participating in a quick day course in hand building. It seemed like a natural evolution blossoming from her passion and skills in Fashion Design, and Pastry. Wabie’s ceramic pieces exude a sense of elegance, imagination  and femininity, with a spark of fashion and individuality.

y ceramic pieces are my new blank canvas, inviting me to illustrate. I have been drawing since I could hold a pencil, and have always been fascinated by the idea of combining my illustrations with ceramics.

I paint with colourful underglazes to add whimsical drawings and intricate details to my work.

A beautiful field of wildflowers, a rushing stream, a child playing with sand, or a cat in the window, those moments are my inspiration.

To draw a picture is bliss, but to make and illustrate a plate, a cup or a jar, that will become a daily ritual in people's lives is a whole other world, and I love it.

Amelie Drewitz was born in Germany and raised in the Kootenays where she spent her childhood drawing and playing outside in the wilderness.

She attended her first art exhibition in 2011 and has been a part of many exhibitions in the Kootenays since then. As a self-taught illustrator, Amelie illustrated her first book “The Tale

of Two Opposites” at the young age of 14, and soon after at the age of 15 her second book,“The Fairy Flurries”.

Amelie attended the Nelson Waldorf School from first to eighth grade, graduated and began ninth grade at the local high school. It was then and there when she was first introduced to the art of working with clay. She was mesmerized, and from then on took the ceramics course each year in high school.

Amelie is currently diving deeply into the world of ceramics at Kootenay School of the Arts Ceramics program where she now combines her love for illustration with her newly found passion for ceramics, creating unique everyday items and decorative work.