Kimberly Allison

K. Allison Ceramics
Room 316
Ceramics/Pottery
@kallisonceramics

K. Allison Ceramics are individually handcrafted in Salem, Massachusetts by Kimberly Allison. Before discovering ceramics, she spent a decade as a graphic designer. She lived near conservation land and the ocean but rarely interacted with either in corporate life. Only in pursuing ceramics did she learn to connect with the surroundings that now inspire her work. She is drawn to birches, burnt logs, tides, clouds, and the sensory connections we all share with these bits of nature even when we aren’t paying attention.

She is also interested in pottery’s ability to convey visual and tactile experiences simultaneously. She uses both handbuilt and wheelthrown porcelain forms, carvings, slips, and glazes to create or obscure texture, light, and shadow to explore the relationship between what we see and what we feel when we interact with ceramics.

Her approach is minimalist but warm, a Nordic aesthetic influenced by her Swedish grandmother. She pares her concepts to their simplest elements, leaving enough to evoke a subtle feeling or memory. Pieces can stand alone or be grouped to reference forest groves, frenzied waves, or a sudden cloudburst.

This is Kim's seventh year participating in Open Studios, and her sixth as part of the planning team.