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Karen Karnes

Biography to Display: 

1925 Born New York, New York

 2016 Died Morgan, Vermont

EDUCATION

1946BA Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, New York

1951-1952Graduate Fellow, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1954-1979Gate Hill Cooperative, Stony Point, New York

1967Faculty, Penland School of Craft, Penland, North Carolina

APPRENTICESHIPS AND RESIDENCIES

1949-1950Independent Study, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

1952-1954Potter in Residence, Black Mountain College, Asheville, North Carolina

BIOGRAPHY

Karen Karnes is known for wheel-thrown functional pottery, especially her iconic covered casseroles and her experiments with wood firing both functional and sculptural pottery.

Early in her career Karnes worked with molds and fired work in an oil-fueled kiln. It was during Karnes’ time in Italy that she learned to work with a potter’s wheel. Returning to the US, she studied at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. In 1952 she and her then husband, David Weinrib, were potters-in-residence at Black Mountain College where they remained until 1954. They were present for the series of seminal ceramics symposia bringing together Soetsu Yanagi, Shoji Hamada, Bernard Leach, with Marguerite Wildenhain as the moderator. Attended by makers and ceramics educators, these symposia had a far-reaching effect on the making and firing of pots in the United States.

In 1954 Karnes and her husband moved to Stony Point, New York where they worked with other potters to develop the Gate Hill Cooperative. During this period Karnes concentrated on the production of multiples, functional pottery, and developed her iconic flame ware casseroles. These sturdy walled vessels were thrown with deep finger ridges that hold the glaze to create a two-tone appearance. They were finished with a pulled and folded or open loop lid handle attached at an angle. The natural rhythm of the lid handle retained the sense of plasticity of the clay. The casseroles are an example of Karnes’ respect for ceramic traditions with a modern approach.

While teaching at Penland in 1967 she began to use salt in her firings, something she would continue to do throughout her career. After returning to Gate Hill she built a salt kiln there with the help of her friend Mikhail Zakin, also a potter. Karnes moved to Vermont in 1979 where, after producing primarily functional work for many years, she created a series of sculptural pieces that referenced functional forms. She continued to explore atmospheric effects of wood and salt firing and their results on the finished ceramic surface. She stopped firing her own kiln after 1998 when a fire destroyed her kiln shed and home. Subsequently, her pieces were fired in the wood-fueled kilns of fellow potters around New England.

Karnes’ later work consists of sculptural objects of manipulated thrown pots transformed into objects unrelated to their original components or utility.

An interview with Karen Karnes conducted August 9, 2005, by Mark Shapiro for the Archives of American Art's Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America is available at:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-karen-karnes-12096.

Public Collections

Public Collections to Display: 

Alfred Ceramic Art Museum, Alfred University, Alfred, New York

American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California

Arizona State University Art Museum, Pheonix, Arizona

Aukland Museum, Aukland, New Zealand

Bemidji State University Collection, Bemidji, Minnesota

Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa

Canton Museum of Art, Canton, Ohio

Cranbrook Academy Museum of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, New Hampshire

Delaware Museum of Art, Wilmington, Delaware

Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, Michigan

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York

Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LAMCA), Los Angeles, California

Manchester Craftsmen's Guild, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York

Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

Museum of Arts and Design, New York, New York

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

Museum of World Folk Art, La Jolla, California

Nelson Fine Arts Center, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Racine Art Museum, Racine, Wisonsin

Southern Highland Craft Guild, Asheville, North Carolina

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery, Washington, D.C.

St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, Missouri

Topeka Public Library, Topeka, Kansas

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England

Weisman Art Museum, University of Minesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, Kansas

Bibliography

Bibliography to Display: 

Boylen, Michael. "A Karen Karnes Workshop." Ceramics Monthly, 1981.

Clark, Garth, and Margie Hughto. A Century of Ceramics in the United States 1878-1978. New York, NY: E.P. Dutton, 1979.

Dietz, Paula. "American Pottery." New York Times Home Design, April 13, 1986

Hynes, Reggie. "Karen Karnes Workshop." Ceramic Review, May/ June 1982.

____________. "Karen Karnes Retrospective." Ceramics Monthly, March 1978.

____________. "Karen Karnes," Ceramic Review, March/April 1978.

Levin, Elaine. The History of American Ceramics From Pipkins and Bean Pots to Contemporary Forms, 1607 to the Present. New York, NY: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1998.

Lynn, Martha Drexler. Clay Today Contemporary Ceramists and Their Work A Catalogue of the Howard and Gwen Laurie Smits Collection at the Los Angeles County Art Museum. Los Angeles, CA: Chronicle Books, 1990.

Rubin, Michael. "Karen Karnes." Ceramics Monthly, April 1986.

Shapiro, Mark  ed. Chosen Path: The Ceramic Art of Karen Karnes. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 2010.

Silberman, Robert. “Modernism As It Was Meant To Be.” American Craft, April/May 2011.

Smith, Dido. "Karen Karnes.” Craft Horizons, May/June 1958.

 

CV or Resume: Click Here to Download
Source: Lacoste Gallery

 

 

Center for CraftSouthern Highland Craft Guild

 

 

AMOCA American Museum of Ceramic ArtAMOCA American Museum of Ceramic Art

 

Typical Marks
1951
ca 1960
1960-1970
1992
2000
2000
Double Vase
Date: 1951, in Italy
Materials: Earthenware
Method: Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Glaze
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Purchase Prize given by Lord and Taylor, 16th Ceramic National, 1951
Photo: John Polak
Everson Museum of Art Collection, Purchase Prize given by Lord and Taylor, 16th Ceramic National, 1951
Photo: John Polak
Cocoa Pot
Date: ca 1960
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown, Mixed Methods
Surface Technique: Glaze
Southern Highland Craft Guild
Photo: Southern Highland Craft Guild
Southern Highland Craft Guild
Photo: Southern Highland Craft Guild
Tall Vase
Date: 1977
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Judith and Martin Schwartz Collection
Photo: John Polak
Judith and Martin Schwartz Collection
Winged Vessel
Date: 1989
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Photo: John White
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Vessel
Date: 1991
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Photo: John White
Courtesy Elaine Levin Archive, University of Southern California
Bowl with Split Foot
Date: 1992
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze
Judith and Martin Schwartz Collection
Photo: John Polak
Judith and Martin Schwartz Collection
Sack
Date: ca 2000
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown, Hand-Built
Surface Technique: Unglazed
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Photo: Loren Maron
Leaning Forms
Date: ca 2000
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Salt Fired, Woodfire
E John Bullard Collection
E John Bullard Collection
Casserole
Materials: Flameware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: liveauctioneers.com
Photo: liveauctioneers.com
Covered Jar
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze
Photo: liveauctioneers.com
Wine Goblets
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 3.5 x 7.25" and 4 x 8"
Surface Technique: Glaze
Covered Jar
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Surface Technique: Glaze, Salt Glaze, Woodfire
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of James W and Jackie Voell, 2005.5.54.ab
Photo: TMP
American Museum of Ceramic Art, gift of James W and Jackie Voell, 2005.5.54.ab
Winged Vessel
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze, Incised, Woodfire
Scripps College Collection, 2012.5.2
Photo: TMP
Scripps College Collection, 2012.5.2
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Sculptural Form
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze, Woodfire
Scripps College Collection,  2016.7.10
Photo: TMP
Scripps College Collection, 2016.7.10
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Winged Vessel
Form: Sculpture
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown and Altered
Surface Technique: Glaze, Woodfire
Scripps College Collection, 2016.7.11
Photo: TMP
Scripps College Collection, 2016.7.11
Photo: TMP
Photo: TMP
Covered Jar
Materials: Stoneware
Method: Thrown
Dimensions: 4.5" x 4" x 4"
Surface Technique: Glaze
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, gift of the estate of Geitel Winakor, um2011.393ab.10.2022.jb
Photo: ISU
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, gift of the estate of Geitel Winakor, um2011.393ab.10.2022.jb
Photo: ISU

Citation: "The Marks Project." Last modified September 2, 2023. http://www.themarksproject.org/marks/karnes