Bio
Karly Kennedy grew up on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It was in highschool under the guidance of her beloved ceramics teacher, Stephanie York, that she knew clay would forever be a part of her life.
She spent years working alongside Jessica Gardner at Northern Virginia Community College and Marianne McGrath at California State University Channel Islands. It was these women - mothers and working ceramic artists - who would inspire and shape the artist that she’d become. Especially once she became a mother herself.
Karly is now a studio technician at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia where she also maintains her studio practice.
Statement
My earliest memories of making are rooted in curating spaces, considering the relationships between objects, and how their colors, textures, and shapes work together to create a rich visual landscape.
The physical process of making offers a sense of trust and momentum. Using hand-building techniques such as pinching, coiling, and slab construction, I create forms that repeat, stack, stretch, and recombine into eclectic arrangements. What may begin as a simple shape evolves into a complex composition through accumulation and variation.
Material exploration and firing are central to my practice. By working with diverse firing methods and materials, I cultivate a range of surfaces and finishes that highlight the transformative nature of the ceramic process. Soft terra sigillatas, layered glazes, and varied clay bodies interact through the alchemy of heat and atmosphere, creating surfaces rich in visual depth and tactile complexity. Each piece embraces the unpredictability of firing, often undergoing multiple firings to achieve nuanced effects that reflect the dynamic relationship between material, environment, and process.
Born from a love of ornamentation and ritual, my work explores how repeated forms can transform the ordinary into something resonant and meaningful. Whether worn on the body or displayed in the home, my work seeks to create moments of beauty, contemplation, and connection through form, surface, and intuitive making.