Ani Kasten Ceramics



Ani Kasten Ceramics

About The Artist

Ani Kasten • Shafer, MN
Ceramics • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

A fascination with the materiality of the clay is the foundation for all of my vessels, sculptures and assemblages. I am influenced by natural imagery, and my forms explore the meeting point of natural occurrence and the human hand. I use wheel-throwing and hand-building techniques to explore the breadth and limits of clay. The interactions between clay bodies- stoneware, porcelain, and locally sourced ‘wild clays’, are what interest me, as metaphors for human interactions and relationships.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

My work is made from stoneware and porcelain clays that are oxidation fired in my electric kilns. I use a variety of building techniques for my vessels, including wheel-throwing, hand-building, and kurinuki. I use both light and dark clay bodies and mix colors together as well as techniques to push the limits of the material wherever I find them. The forms are layered with my signature surface treatments of slips and glazes and then fired in the electric kiln.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

As years pass, clay offers up more and more mystery, literally holding the secrets and narratives of the earth that we walk upon and inhabit. It would take a life time to discover all there is to know about this material, and that remains constantly exciting to me.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

The way that I use my materials to form my pieces is unconventional-- I combine materials in ways that are unexpected and test the limits of the medium in every piece. I never tire of layering the pieces so richly with ceramic surfaces that it is very difficult for my audience to tell how the pieces were made. I love to offer this mystery in every piece.