| | The Brood and Migration are the first of two paintings in the Pelagic Worlds series, a personal project. Several more are in progress. |
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Two paintings from my Pelagic Worlds series — imagined organisms drifting through the atmospheric layers of gas giants — have been selected as cover art for Clarkesworld Magazine: the December 2025 volume and the current June 2026 issue. Clarkesworld is a well-respected publication in science fiction and fantasy literature, which means these particular alien creatures have found exactly the right home. |
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There are just over forty mugs in the kiln at this moment, mid-process in a pre-drying cycle before the bisque firing. Forty mugs sounds like inventory but it feels more like holding one's breath.
Also waiting their turn:
A commissioned house number tile — functional art in the most grounded possible sense. A client needed their address legible and their packages reliably delivered to the correct house. Ceramics, solving problems one fired slab at a time!
A large Greenman tile, destined for the shop, currently drying with the unhurried patience of something that has been growing in one form or another for a thousand years.
And then there's the Greenman birdhouse. The Green Man is a foliate head-- the forest wearing a human face. It seemed only cosmologically correct, then, to make his mouth the bird entrance. Things should live in him. That's rather the point. These will have to wait for the next firing cycle. Consider this your peek through the studio window. |
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Greenman forms are just too much fun. |
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It has been a year of quiet transitions out back. The flock was already 4-ish years old when they arrived 3 years ago, which puts them firmly in chicken elderhood — and the math has been making itself felt. We've said goodbye to most of that original cohort. Last night we lost Thelma. She hadn't been herself for a couple of weeks, and we knew. Laverne is the last of their sibling group of four, and she and Clarisse are now the remaining elders of the original birds.
Clarisse, the small white Araucana, lays strong but small pale blue Easter-eggs that have proven structurally impervious to the egg-pecking. And as the other hens' eggs have grown thin-shelled, those eggs have become a daily snack for their coop-mates — practical or slightly gothic, depending on your disposition. Peanut and Punkin round out the current roster and are holding their own. Fonzie, however, remains magnificently unbothered. He greets every dawn with the absolute conviction that the Sun requires his personal authorization to rise. Bug patrol continues. The flock endures. |
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My little birdman, Fonzie, resplendent as ever. |
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Three recent posts, if you're so inclined: How To See Your Own Work — On somatic intuition and the gravitational pull of your own best ideas. Basically, how to know if your work is any good.
Housecleaning as a Path to Creative Pursuits — If you're looking for a serious economic opportunity while you pursue your creative endeavors, here's an idea not many people consider.
On the Mark of Kest — An online letter of provenance for the signs and signatures on my work.
I'd love to discuss any of these ideas with you, so please feel free to put your thoughts in the comment section. |
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Sometimes you just need to make something to hold your kitchen scrubbie... |
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Galleries to Find My Work |
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Gallery Blue Door in Baltimore, MD is currently housing several Monsterpots, Moonpots, and eyeball mugs from the Kest Pottery shop, along with a rotating selection of other thoughtful work.
Creatives on King Gallery in York, PA continues to be a good home for Monsterpots, eyeball mugs, Moonpots, bas relief tiles, and more. Their Upstairs Gallery turns over monthly with solo and group shows — there's always something new afoot.
Both galleries reward a visit. And if you find yourself in York, the whole 100-block of E. King Street will happily swallow an afternoon. A few neighbors worth your time: Slip into the bookstore around the corner, and don't overlook the mural park tucked behind E. King Street. First Fridays in downtown York, PA — other events, shops, and eateries worth investigating. |
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A dear friend wrote to me recently, musing about what she most wants — in relationships, in life — and she landed on this: to be treasured and understood. I've been sitting with that ever since, because it seems to me that's what we owe each other in every relationship worth having. Not just the romantic ones.
So: you, reading this. You deserve to be treasured and understood — by the people you welcome into your life, by the work you make or collect or live alongside, and by the artists whose studio letters land in your inbox several times a year smelling faintly of clay dust and chickens.
The world remains chaotic, the clay remains honest, and you remain here. Of the three, you're the most remarkable. Thank you for showing up and making me feel valued and seen. It matters more than I can say.
If you know someone who might find some cheer in these letters, send this one their way. New readers are always welcome.
Fierce love,
~K2 |
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