Pottery

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10 Sept Mini kiln opening AND some news

9 new cups came out of my mini kiln today, I’m super excited to show them off!

Swipe or use the arrows to see all the cups in the slideshow.

  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with chickens on the surface design
    chicken square cup
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a bear drinking from a cup sitting under a rainbow
    rainbow Bear Cup
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a yellow cat taking photos of birds on the surface design
    yellow Photo Cat With Tree Bird
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with flying pigs eating apples from a tree
    Flying Pigs With Apples
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a yellow cat making pottery on a wheel on the surface design
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a goat jumping towards a rainbow
    Rainbow Goat Cup
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a yellow cat taking photos of birds under a rainbow on the surface design
    yellow Photo Cat Rainbow 2Doves
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with 2 cats that love cups
    we Love Cups Cats
  • folk art pottery wheel thrown cup made in kentucky with a yellow cat under a rainbow design
    yellow Heart Rainbow Cat

it can be hard to get the idea of what a 3d object is like from photos (even when i take 4 photos at different angles) so here’s a short video with a 360 view of each cup

This coming weekend (16 and 17 of September 2023) is going to be a great time to visit Old Washington (Maysville, KY) We are having the Simon Kenton Festival, and as part of the festivities, I’M GOING TO HAVE MY NEW STUDIO IN WASHINGTON HALL open to the public.

Artist, Ken Swinson, standing in front of washington hall in old washington ky with cups in his hands

I haven’t announced the new studio until now because it’s just a work space, but this weekend, I’m going to give a FREE hands on printmaking activity, and will also have some of my pots on display. You might know that I don’t sell pottery online because i want you to come see it in person and hold it in your hands before you decide to buy one or not ($50 each).

The address is 2111 Old Main Street, Maysville KY. To get to my studio, take the second staircase by Lil Jumbo’s Coffeecompany, and I’m upstairs across from The Rewind Books and Design.
Hope to see you then!

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Mini Kiln opening: 4 September 2023

Hope you all are enjoying this Labor Day! My big labor day festivity was opening my mini kiln and bringing 9 new cups into the world

Hope you like opossums, because 6 of the 9 cups feature north America’s only marsupial

swipe or use the arrows to see the whole gallery

  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    Fox Cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    deep green Opossum Cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    nose touching opossums cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    bird dog cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    mama opossum cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    opossum with acorn cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    rainbow goat cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    opossum with bird cup
  • handmade folk art style pottery cup by ken swinson
    opossum cup 1

i don’t sell cups online, but these (and more!) will be on display + sale at my studio in Washington Hall during the Simon Kenton Festival in Old Washington 16 and 17 of September. Hope to see you there!!!

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pottery 24 August 2023

I just opened the kiln and have 9 cute little cups to share TOMORROW at the Pendleton Art Center in Cincinnati.
Cups are all wheel thrown and hand carved/painted. In person sales only-you must hold it in your hand before you can decide-no dibs-first come, first served 5-9pm.

See you tomorrow!

swipe or use arrows to see all the cups

  • folk art pottery cup with fox and chickens kentucky
    fox admiring chickens cup
  • folk art pottery cup cow
  • folk art pot bear throwing pottery cup kentucky
    bear making pottery cup
  • folk art pottery cup goat with corn
    goat and corn cup
  • folk art pottery bear cups
    bear loves cups
  • folk art opossum pottery cup
    opossum cup 1
  • folk art opossum pottery cup
    opossum cup 2
  • folk art pottery flying pig
    flying pig cup
  • folk art pottery bunny
    bunny cup
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Some of my workshop pots with Mark Errol’s Colored spots technique

two shelves with colorful pottery cups. 2 framed linocut prints are hanging over the shelves

It’s been an action packed August so far. After 2 weeks making pots at Arrowmont (instead of painting) – i decided to re install a couple shelves at my studio at the Pendleton Art Center. If you have been looking for some pottery, I’ll have some new ones on the 25th at Final Friday.

If you’d like a better look at my mini test firing of the cups I made at Mark Errol’s workshop-using his technique. swipe or click the arrows in the slideshow below

  • a colorful cup with rainbows and rain clouds
    rainbow and rainclouds
  • a white cup with a bear playing banjo-rainbows in the background
    bear with banjo
  • a colorful handmade cup with water, rainclouds and birds
    river and rainclouds
  • a colorful cup with rainclouds rainbows and birds
    dripping rainbow
  • a colorful cup with lots of blue and a rainbow
    blue sky rainbow and birds
  • a colorful cup with clouds
    rainclouds and trees
  • a colorful cup with clouds
    clouds and circles
  • a colorful cup with birds and rainbows
  • A red stoneware cup with white slip and a goat decal
    goat cup – a glaze test

Thanks again Mark for all the new surface design techniques! Was happy to see that your clear looks great on the red clay body I’m currently using.

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Workshop with Mark Errol and special guest Kathy King

Greetings from Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts!

I just wrapped up an amazing workshop learning from two of my pottery heroes (Mark Errol and Kathy King).

group photo of happy students posing in the Arrowmont clay studio with superstar teachers, Mark Errol and Kathy King.

It has been a dream come true meeting them and seeing Mark and Kathy’s work in real life. –sorry, photos on the internet just aren’t the same.

artist ken swinson posing in front of a salt fired kiln with a pile of bisque pottery displayed inside it

I have been on a pottery break, and can’t tell you how good it felt to have my hands back in clay for 5+ whole days. i ended up making 34 pots (that’s a lot in comparison to my normal speed)

Every workshop I have taken at Arrowmont has been an incredible experience. It’s a perfect environment to push my creativity to places I could never reach by myself. The bears of Arrowmont make it a magical and special place.

two baby bears playing in a tree. A human bear (artist Mark Errol) watching from the kitcher porch at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

If you are in the Knoxville area, Mark and Kathy have a group exhibit, “Zero Lucks To Give” on display at the Arrowmont Gallery in Knoxville for the month of August. I was really thrilled to see their work in person and add these two cups to my collection!

photo of two cups by mark errol and kathy king. they are displayed in front of a mirror, so you can see a few sides of the pottery. A poster promoting their exhibit is also in the background

My heart is bursting, i’m so grateful to those who have made this experience possible for me!!! Thank you! Thank you! thank you! Stay tuned, i’ll have more to share soon.

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Kiln firing 24 January 2023

I just opened the mini kiln, and welcomed 8 new cups to the world.
Some of the cups are decorated with an experimental woodcut transfer process.

This is a significant firing, because it is the FINAL FIRING for this season. I won’t be making any more pottery until Summer 2023.

swipe or use arrows to see all the pottery

  • handmade cup with woodcut underglaze transfers of goat
  • handmade cup with woodcut underglaze transfers of goat and sheep
  • handmade cup with woodcut underglaze transfers of goat and sheep
  • handmade cup with folk art style cardinal surface design
  • handmade cup with folk art style cardinal surface design
  • handmade stoneware cup with folk art surface design of a horse and country house
  • handmade stoneware cup with folk art pig and flowers surface design. there is a heart inbetween the two pigs
  • handmade cup with folk art style decoration of goats and plants

If you’d like to see them (and more) in person. They will be on display this friday (jan 27th) at the Pendleton Art Center – Cincinnati.

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2023-01-21 Kiln Opening

I had a small kiln firing last night (8 cups – 1 plate)

Here are the results!
Use the arrows or swipe to see them all

  • handmade stoneware oval plate with sheep dog chasing sheep surface design
    Sheep Dog Plate
  • handmade stoneware cup with bear taking photos of bunnies design
    Bear and Bunnies Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup depicting fox taking photos of sheep
    Fox and Sheep Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup with bear having a tea party design
    Tea Party Bear Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup with fox and hound surface design
    Fox and the Hound Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup depicting chickens with yellow background
    Chickens Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup with dog making pottery surface design
    Pottery Dog Cup
  • handmade stoneware cup with terrier and yellow cat surface design
  • handmade stoneware cup with goat woodcut surface design
    Goat Woodcut Cup

It’s really hard to get an idea of what a 3d cup looks like from a photo. A video with a 360 view is a little bit better. Seeing them in person-and being able to pick them up and drink from them is still best.

For your reference, I sell cups for $45 and plates for $75. They are only available in person NO ONLINE SALES. You need to pick them up to ‘know’ if it’s the right pot for you. You can find them either on my front porch, or at my studio at the Pendleton Art Center on Final Fridays and by appointment.