Artist: Kristina Batiste
Kristina Batiste, WASHINGTON
View Available Work by the Aritist
BIO
Kristina Batiste is a Tacoma-based ceramic artist making functional and sculptural work. She became an artist later in life; prior to ceramics she worked in editorial services, graphic design, and higher education. The through line of her career has been a commitment to distilling complex ideas into accessible, memorable forms. Inspirations include modernist art and architecture, literature, and nature.
Kristina was featured in the 2023 issue of Ceramics Monthly, is a guest artist in the Northern Clay Center's 2023 American Pottery Festival and was the subject in Hulu’s Your Attention Please mini documentary series.
Her work is featured in the newly-released book, “Black American Ceramic Artists” and she’s has been written about in the Seattle Times, the Strategist, and the Craft Industry Alliance, and is the co-founder of the Tacoma Pottery Salon.
ARTIST STATEMENT
The world is loud and fast and I use my work as a way to make it a little bit quieter, to find a moment of rest and a place to examine ideas and thoughts and emotions in greater detail.
I work in the minimalist tradition with a focus on honesty. In practice, that means I make simple forms and incorporate minimal focal points. I absolutely love a line - it holds infinite complexity, but it’s a contemplative sort of complexity, not the overwhelming kind.
Most of my work is made to be both seen and used: cups, plates, bowls, objects that speak to their purpose, and I often leave exterior surfaces completely unglazed to give the holder a way to see and connect with the clay in its most elemental state.
I want the work to issue an invitation to the holder, present an opportunity to elevate an everyday experience into a moment of artistic joy.
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ㅡ Exhibit History |
Winter Warmers Invitational And Juried Cup Show / Good Earth 2023, BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON line up 1-4 Simple Cup Show / Kobo Seattle 2022, SEATTLE, WA single line, double line, 1-4, 2022. A Gathering / Northern Clay Center 2022, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA gathering plate I: prospect and refuge, 2022. sour, hot, bitter, and sweet 2022. Bare Essentials / Red Lodge Clay Center 2022, RED LODGE, MONTANA Subtraction I and II 2021. salt. 2021.
18th Annual Ceramics Invitational / Abel Contemporary 2021, MADISON, WISCONSIN Double line cup and bowl. Elevation / Good Earth MAY 2021, BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON meditation spoons, 2021. chromosphere bowl, 2021
Modern Womxn / Alma Mater Gallery MAY 2019, TACOMA, WASHINGTON tessellatum. 2019. An exploration of color, texture, and scale, apparently fragile but demonstrating resilience. Each tile bears the weight of the others against gravity, taking up space without blocking sight lines. Each tablet was intentionally warped to highlight the minimal, repetitive texture, and repaired with copper staples. The name for this piece comes from the term 'opus tessellatum', a mosaic technique for arranging tesserae (tiles) in horizontal or vertical lines. |
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ㅡ Publications and Media |
Kristina Batiste: Leaving a Mark May 2023 Written by D. Wood, an artist profile. ceramicartsnetwork.org/ceramics-monthly/ceramics-monthly-article/kristina-batiste-leaving-a-mark
Contemporary Black American Ceramic Artists 2022, Book Written by donald a clark and Chotsani Elaine Dean, this book explores and celebrates the contribution of 38 contemporary artists with interviews, photographs, insights, and commentary. schifferbooks.com/products/contemporary-black-american-ceramic-artists
Your Attention Please 2022, Streaming Subject of season 3, episode 4 of Hulu’s anthology Documentary Series, including a visit to my studio and commentary about my approach to work, minimalist philosophy, and projects.
handmade pottery will change your life. 2022, self published My thoughts on the magic of handmade pottery, closes with the lines:
handmade pottery will change your life. 2022, self published My thoughts on the magic of handmade pottery, closes with the lines: |
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ㅡ Grant History |
Tacoma Artist Initiative Grant 2023/2024 COHORT | juniper-clay.com/salon.html Funding support for six events in our ongoing series of salon sessions designed to celebrate the craft, preserve the history of PNW ceramics through career retrospectives, and build community.
Tacoma Artist Initiative Grant 2019/2020 COHORT | juniper-clay.com/tacoma-artist-initiative-project.html An asset shared builds kinship - our parks, libraries, schools, even our roads and sidewalks tie us together. Why not our plates? Any potter will tell you that you can’t fully experience a piece without using it, but a lot of people never get to do that because handmade pottery is expensive. Let’s widen that circle, allow people to borrow pots to take home and try, to see firsthand how handmade pottery changes the dining experience. This project was designed to demonstrate our sustained belief in the best of folks make our community more inclusive and add to our collective memory. To show that yes, we can have nice things. That we're not too far gone to share a moment or a meal. Note: This project was interrupted by the pandemic, planned but suspended activities included a free gallery exhibit and the pottery lending library. |
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ㅡ Speaking and Events |
Invited Artist / 25th Annual American Pottery Festival September 2023 Hosted by the Northern Clay Center, this is a mindfully-forged event bringing together makers, clay lovers, learners, collectors, and simply the curious, to play and be inspired. Panelist, demonstrating artist, and lecturer.
Guest Artist / Throwing Sh*t May 2023 Hosted by Diana Adams and Rich Brown, appeared as a guest artist on their potter interview internet show.
Co-Founder & Host / Tacoma Pottery Salon January 2022 - ongoing Along with Reid Ozaki, I host an ongoing lecture series designed to strengthen our local pottery community by giving our senior, more experienced potters a forum for discussing their work and giving career retrospectives to an educated, interested audience. These events are highly valued both by the attendees and the speakers.
Panel Guest Speaker / At the Precipice of Healing: October, 2022, Waring Jones Theater, Minneapolis In conjunction with the “A Gathering” exhibit, I joined four other invited artists to discuss our work, how it fits into the larger cultural context, and how we speak to the history and realities of Black experiences in the US.
Artist Talk / Bohlin Cywinski Jackson March, 2021 Artist presentation to BCJ Seattle architecture firm, discussing my work, process, and inspiration. BCJ hosts an ongoing series inviting artists to promote interdisciplinary creativity. |
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ㅡ Education |
My formal education lies outside of the visual arts discipline, but everything is everything and I’ve incorporated concepts and ideas from my literary and library education into my work. University of British Columbia Information Architecture and User Experience
Stanford University English Literature |