Katherine Moes

Ceramics Artist

When a person knows themselves and uses their heart as their compass, their life is not compartmentalized but wholly integrated, their soul shining through in all that they do. Such is the case with ceramics artist Katherine Moes. Because she honors who she is and lets her intuition be her guide, there is continuity in her artwork and personal life, self-confidence in her purpose, and sure footing in knowing where she wants to go. She pivots with ease, changing course as life requires, sets her intention on what she wants, and gives herself permission to make mistakes, to do-over if she isn’t happy, to play, and to explore. She gives herself grace and love, just like any good mother, and is somehow able to balance the endless work of motherhood along with the perpetual needs of growing her art career.

A clay cairn is one of Katherine’s sculptural series that metaphorically embodies the ideal life balance as well as reminds the viewer that life is a journey—look for the guides along the path. Photo credit: James Moes

Katherine grew up in a military family, living on base, moving frequently, and calling many different places home: Germany, New York state, Washington state, and Texas. Despite the frequent relocating and her father being deployed for months at a time, her home life was safe, secure, and supportive. She describes it as “idyllic” as well as saying that they lived “in a bubble”—not in a confining, glass prison sort of bubble, but a protective envelope created by the supportive community in which they lived—with families of similar circumstances who she could relate to and would normalize her experiences, not as an outcast in a resident country where she didn’t speak the language, but rather felt like she belonged. The security she felt in her childhood enabled her to trust that she would be provided for, and be loved, despite obstacles that might arise along the way.

At the age of 24, a recent college graduate and newlywed, Katherine became a mother. She put her career aspirations aside for awhile and devoted herself to her new role as a stay-at-home mom while her husband worked long hours, building his wedding photography business. Living in Seattle, where the cost of living is high, and where they found themselves the only parents in their young friend group, Katherine struggled. She felt isolated and lost, and was called to look inward for the sense of security she lacked.

One of Katherine’s current experiments entails making a nightstand for her husband. He doesn’t want a large surface for resting objects, just enough for a few small items, but the ceramic form could be used as a base with a glass top to provide more tabletop area. This is the second table Katherine has made and will likely not be her last foray in furniture making. “I make what I would want in my own house,” she admits, whether she keeping or selling her work.

Growing up, she had always loved art and nature, and had taken as many ceramics classes in high school as she could cram into her schedule. In college, she majored in biology and her first jobs were working with animals. So when she learned about a Science Illustration Certificate at the University of Washington, the idea of combining art and science and working with her hands as well as using her brain sparked joy, and she jumped at the opportunity. Illustration led her back to art, but it wasn’t until she took a ceramics class at the local community center that she was led back to herself. Katherine wrote on her Instagram account:

“There was something that I observed in myself when I did illustration versus ceramics. When I illustrated it was very left brain, constantly thinking of proportions, highlights, shadow, color choice, and precision. With clay I could relax, feel, play, and flow. After an afternoon spent illustrating I was drained. After an afternoon of throwing I was refilled. With a blank piece of paper I would feel the weight of perfection needed to create a drawing. With a lump of clay I didn’t have that same fear. If things went wrong with the clay piece I could just throw it into my recycle bucket and it would meet me again at another time. Nothing felt wasted, reincarnation was part of the system.”

That clay class was only five years ago. She now has over 5.5k followers on Instagram, sells her work to nine retailers across the country and one in Australia, and makes a living as a full-time artist. Since launching her business, every year has been better than the last and she jokes that she could pay a mortgage, on her own, for the first time. Her husband, also an artist and entrepreneur, has been a great sounding board for all things business, and has helped her with an awareness of her bigger picture goals. “How do I give myself time to explore and make some of these bigger shapes that I would love to get into?” she asks herself. She can’t do that if she spends all of her time cranking out wholesale production because she can’t say no. She has had to learn to say no to new retail opportunities, even when she’s flattered, in order to continue to make the art that she wants to make. At some point she may decide to grow this part of her business, and hire staff to help with production, but “I’m not ready to manage other people yet,” she laughs.

Katherine recently posted the Ring Pitcher on Instagram, and the response was so good that she has started exploring doing a family with the ring in different scales. Pictured here is mostly unglazed and unfired work including: a clay cairn, Ring Pitchers both raw and fired, a small, glazed Ring Pitcher, large Ring Bells, and a handful of tiny vases.

Recently on a trip to Bentonville’s renowned Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Katherine experienced the large scale work of the late Japanese-American ceramics artist Toshiko Takaezu. She was so moved by her work that she was brought to tears. She wrote:

“I sat there long enough that I can now close my eyes and picture the cluster of vessels in my minds eye. Then I remember words I once heard, a happy moment is fleeting and fades away but you will know joy when you can picture the moment in your mind and like a well you can dip into the same feelings of goodness you experienced. I found a joyful moment yesterday. A well I can dip into and save for a rainy day.”

In her studio hangs a collection of photos of her favorite influencers: Georgia O’Keefe, Frida Kahlo, and Toshiko Takaezu. In addition to these women and their work, Katherine finds inspiration in the American southwest desert, the colors, and Earthship homes. The “biotecture”, as they call it, is similar to pottery, not only in the stuccoed appearance, but also in its construction. Cal-Earth superadobe buildings are a sort of upside-down coil pot, where cemented earth is poured into sandbag tubes, coiled, tamped, and stacked into a beehive dome that becomes a dwelling. In making her coil pot series uses a similar, albeit smaller scale, technique and she either leaves the pieces unglazed, or uses a white glaze, similar to the adobe plaster walls. “I’m a sucker for raw clay and the look I get with the gas kiln,” she confesses.

On the first collection of coil pots she posted for sale on her website (katherinemoes.com), Katherine used her finger to create the surface patterns. More recently she has been experimenting with making and using custom clay stamps to make various patterns. Photo credit: James Moes

One of the stamps she has recently created for decorating the surfaces of her coil pots.

Katherine has numerous irons in the fire, or open “tabs” as she calls them (i.e. the internet browser windows kind of tab, not the bar kind), including collaborations, fundraisers, as well as her many projects. Lots of ideas and inspiration, the self-given permission to play and explore, and a market for selling her work has given her career lots of momentum. As she plans out the months ahead, she is excited, not overwhelmed. “If I could do this forever, I’m good,” she says.