Biography
Kowkie Durst presently lives and makes
pottery in Portland, Oregon. She is currently teaching
part-time at the Oregon College of Art and Craft and Clackamas
Community College and works as a Ceramics Technician at
Portland Community College. Kowkie recently finished a
two year residency at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena,
MT, where she received the Lincoln Fellowship. Kowkie earned
an MFA in Ceramics from Penn State University in 2001.
She is dedicated to making pots for everyday use.
Artist Statement I
imagine my pots in someone's home, tossed from sink to table
to shelf. I want them to live with someone and become a part
of their everyday life. The physical connection—lips,
hands, eyes—that engages a user with the object is
essential to the creation of meaning for pottery. My approach
to clay enacts my passion for the material and exposes the
physical nature of my own existence.
My understanding of the power of images to translate history
and stories has deepened through my study of petroglyphs.
The drawings on my pots are rendered as cartoon-like abstractions
of our contemporary cultural icons, which I use to narrate
our intimate relationship with everyday objects as well as
to capture everyday moments that may sometimes be overlooked.
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