Katie Meili Messersmith
Resident Potter | Marketing | Instructor | Mentor
Katie Meili Messersmith (she/her) is a ceramic artist specializing in functional high fire reduction pottery with contemporary glaze techniques and surface design style.
“I am an adopted Chinese American potter, who grew up in Asheville. Before starting my pottery journey, I excelled in STEM subjects and originally envisioned a career in that area. However, after three concussions, I realized that working with clay was the key to live a happy and fulfilling life. Rather than a formal education in the ceramic arts, I gained the majority of my knowledge through the time-honored tradition of Apprenticeship, here at The Village Potters Clay Center. In 2020, I had the honor of joining the core collective team as Resident Potter.
I meticulously and patiently detail the surface of my work with slip-trailed dots. I place every single dot by hand with a bulb syringe, without a guide. Each piece’s dot pattern is determined by the divisibility of the number of dots in the initial row that I apply. This division and resulting geometric patterns are influenced by my enduring mathematical mind. The surface embellishment combined with my personally formulated microcrystalline glaze creates a multidimensional surface that draws viewers in and leaves them with a zen-like satisfaction. My pieces adorned with blue dots and glazed in my eggshell-white are a nod to my Chinese heritage and represent a deconstructed, minimalist, contemporary take on China’s most recognizable ceramics. I fire my work to cone 10 in a gas kiln with a reduction atmosphere. While in the kiln, my glaze and slip react to create what I call “Cobalt Whispers” that unpredictably trail off from the dots. These whispers balance th eprecision of my symmetrical designs. The juxtaposition of my orderly designs and the whimsy of the “Cobalt Whispers” is ametaphor for the desire to have control over life but ultimately surrendering to whatever comes.”
Katie also teaches Intermediate Wheel classes in our Teaching Center and mentors in our Advanced Ceramics Program.
