Kathy King

Kathy King, a potter and painter, was raised a Kansas girl but has called Monroe, Wisconsin, home for forty years. She retired in 2019 from teaching art at Monroe High School, where she taught ceramics, jewelry, watercolor and graphic design. Since retiring, King, continues to create art of all kinds, including welding and making furniture, but her first love is ceramics.

King’s pottery starts at the potter’s wheel, throwing forms to become functional pieces, parts of a sculpture, and on occasion, mixing media. Most of her pieces tell a story from a memory or her imagination. Reoccurring themes of the figure and “as the crow flies” dominate her work. She says, “the surface is an opportunity to draw, carve, manipulate, or apply color using underglazes, and/or glazes, as well as carving using a technique called sgraffito.” Her work is oxidation fired at cone 6, wood fired at cone 10, or raku, depending on the piece or time of year.

She spends a lot of time creating forms that please her, She never has considered herself a production potter; each piece is one-of-a-kind. King strives to make sure each piece’s surface imagery tells a visual story. The handle on each mug feels good in her hand; the lip of each piece is just the right thickness. Her figures tell a story through the expressions on their faces and their body posture. Even though none of her pieces are perfect, she continues to strive for perfection. Her functional pieces are all food, dishwasher, and microwave safe.