ARTIST INFO

KYLE CARPENTER
Asheville, NC
carpenterpottery.com

CLAY | Functional pottery

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2022

Artist Information | Studio artist; education: BFA University of North Carolina Asheville (NC); teaching: Penland School of Craft (NC), Concord University (WV), Morean Center for Clay (FL), College of Lake County (IL), Sawtooth Arts Center (NC), Bascom Art Center (NC), Habersham Mills (GA), University of Alaska Southeast (AK), UNC-Asheville (NC); exhibitions: Southern Crossing Pottery Festival (KY), Pottery on the Hill (DC), NC Potters Market Invitational, Mint Museum (NC), Ohio Craft Museum (OH)

Artist Bio | Kyle Carpenter was born and raised in Raleigh, NC and attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where he now resides. In 2002, Kyle built a salt-kiln and studio at his home and has been working as a full-time studio potter, exhibiting his work at studio tours, galleries, and museums across the United States. Kyle’s new earthenware line came out of a personal need for change in his work. “After twenty years of salt glazing, I was itching for something new.” In the spring of 2020, the Covid pandemic offered a window of time to dedicate to this new pursuit.

Artist Statement | As a studio potter, I work diligently to make well-crafted wares for everyday people. It’s seemingly less about the “ritual of the table” and more about respecting a long tradition of craftsmen before me and discovering my own voice. As a contemporary potter, I often look to past traditions for inspiration. My native state of North Carolina, of course, offers a deep well of talented potters, both folk and contemporary, to look towards for inspiration.
Simplicity in form offers a broad surface for me to embellish with lines, patterns, and drawings.

Before I was introduced to the ceramics arts, I did a fair amount of illustration before and during art school. The combination of three-dimensional forms and two-dimensional drawings was a natural fusion of both my love of drawing and pottery, art and craft. It is my intention to bring together clear and abstract markings to engage the viewer to look closely at how design relates to the form of the pot.