Kip O'Krongly
I use functional pots as a vehicle for setting tables with visual stories. Through everyday ceramic pieces I can subtly, and even a little subversively, explore my interest in issues surrounding food production, energy use, and climate change. Researching these interconnected contemporary themes drives my current studio practice, but the seeds of this work were sown over twenty years ago. As a child in Alaska I witnessed first hand the devastation wrought by the expansive Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. In the following decades, the essence of that childhood experience simmered beneath the surface, ebbing and flowing with the world’s evolving energy story. My subconscious inklings became concrete realities after reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma by food activist Michael Pollan. Pollan’s book identified a thread running through agriculture, pesticides, fertilizers and oil – intertwining layers that have since become prominent themes in my work. As his writing shaped my mental framework, I aimed to translate Pollan’s words into meaningful imagery, to bring ideas off the page and place them squarely in reality as physical objects at the table.
