Kari Woolsey

Kari Woolsey is originally from South Florida. She graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2011, with a BFA in ceramics. In 2015, she completed a year long Post Baccalaureate program in ceramics at the University of Florida. She received an MFA in ceramics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2018. Kari’s work focuses on the everydayness of objects and vessels around us through making functional pottery, as well as, larger installations. She was Clay Arts Vegas’ summer resident artist in 2017 and an Artist-in-Residence at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in 2018 - 2019. In 2019, Kari spent the summer at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts as the Salad Days Artist-in-Residence, making 550 plates for their upcoming Salad Days even in July of 2020  Her interests are divided between researching to maintain an active studio practice, time spent making in various materials, such as clay, paper, wire, and fabric, as well as, teaching community based ceramics classes. Currently, Kari is living in southwest Indiana, as an Artist-in-Residence at New Harmony Clay Project in New Harmony, Indiana.

"Through referencing specific objects and vessels found in the home, I want to connect my work with viewers personal experiences. Our domestic spaces, like an overlooked corner of a living room or a catch-all windowsill next to a reading chair, can talk about very tender moments of our lives, either of introspective moments or relationships with loved ones. I hope to explore that space just under the surface of familiarity through formal elements like color, texture, line, as well as, referencing specific vessels commonly found in our everyday lives. My work becomes the expression of intimacy of the home, and how aspects of our domestic life might be uncomfortably sensitive but universal."