Kristen Stain

I create work that delves into the concept of "both/and"—the dynamic relationship between my cultural roots and personal experiences. This duality guides my exploration of West African and Caribbean heritage alongside my identity as a Black American and formally trained illustrator. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, and raised in Fresno, California, my journey began with political science and athletics at the University of Pittsburgh before shifting to a BFA in Illustration at the Art Center College of Design, with a focus on product design. My career in sportswear design took me across Portland, Oregon, NYC, and Boston, MA—where I began to use ceramics as a form of personal expression that has since become my primary medium. The pandemic was a career shifting moment, where I largely stepped away from commercial art and began to develop a studio art practice, with ceramics at the center. During this time, I completed the Technical Education Program at Mudflat Pottery School and began my studies of Afro-Indigenous practices and looking at the throughlines within the diaspora across time a geographic location.

My work is shaped by both ancestral traditions, emphasizing play, gratitude, community, and reverence for the earth, and a technical, research-driven approach rooted in my background as a color-concept-material-finish designer. These influences allow me to intuitively bridge the past and future, using coil building to channel ancestral wisdom and collective memory into my creative process.

I have been in relationship with dark colored clay bodies since the inception of my practice, which I have evolved my interaction with the portrait by using signifiers to reference themes of beauty, adornment, identity, and Black ceramic history through ritual objects.

Drawing and image research remain vital to my process. I draw inspiration from African diaspora jewelry, fabric, and hairstyles, translating these shapes into silhouettes in my sketchbook. I am exploring how my skills in other mediums and background as a designer can begin to intersect in new ways, harking back on my training in illustration and mark making I look to tell more stories through surface treatment and push beyond making pots.

A central piece of my shift towards being a studio artist has also been social practice and community education. I teach community hand-building classes at Clay Clubhouse in Oakland, California. For just over a year, I have been developing Black Clay, a ceramic workshop series that offers a space for the Black community to connect, create, and learn. The intention of the workshop series is to foster intimacy among community members, lift financial barriers, and highlight the rich history of pottery within the African diaspora.

Outside of the clay studio, I have been stewarding Aroko Cooperative, a design collective dedicated to Black Liberation, which explores design as a social tool for communal prosperity and well-being. Aroko’s mission is to create objects, spaces, and systems that facilitate liberation, care, and sustainability.

@kristen.stain & @ketchupstain; www.kristenstain.com