Karen Karnes

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.