Kristin Dennison can sit for hours at her pottery wheel. The flat, circular machine is about three feet tall and comes just to her knees as she relaxes on a stool. She has the wheel in a cozy corner of her studio, surrounded by natural light and a quiet, calming playlist. A pedal is connected to the wheel to spin it fast or slow. Kristin’s right foot gently presses down the pedal like she’s accelerating a car. Her hands are outstretched, ready to make mugs, bowls, plates, saucers, or whatever else suits her fancy. She is a prolific potter, a good trait for someone so committed to being a full-time artist.
We meet Kristin while she’s working away at the wheel. “I’d shake your hand, but–” she holds up her hands, which are running with wet, saturated clay. She laughs at this, shrugs, and returns her hands to the wheel while she chats.
“I’ve always liked clay,” Kristin explains. “Since elementary school, when I’d open a box of clay and go, ‘YES!’ It’s very exciting.”
Clay is found everywhere in her studio: slabs of it on the tables, splatters on the walls, dust on the floor, stacks on the shelves. Its dusty rose color sets a warm tone in the room. Kristin creates dozens of pottery pieces from this clay, and you can see them filling her shelves and tables, each at a different stage of being shaped, fired, and glazed.
Kristin discovered her love for making pottery in high school, when she had the opportunity to take an apprenticeship with a ceramics maker. Apparently, she was “terrible” at throwing and shaping clay from the start, but she already fell in love with the art that she kept practicing. She found that she liked the beauty of the pottery, but she especially liked its practicality.
“[Pottery] is a mix of creativity and has a purpose,” she says. “Functionality comes first.”
Kristin felt the pressure to have a “real” degree, so she went to college for Psychology instead of art. She didn’t really believe she could make a living out of pottery until she started working at ceramics studios and meeting artists who were successful. She eventually gained the confidence to pursue art as her career, and now she is very happy building her ceramics business.
Her Goodland Pottery has taken on a distinct style with its maximized shapes, thick lines, and smooth textures. She is inspired by ancient pottery and vintage dishware, as well as the environment around her. Maine has a profound impact on her understanding of the natural world.
And, inevitably, she is influenced by the peace and beauty of her studio, a rural refuge in the woods of Montville, Maine.
Kristin moved to Maine thirteen years ago from her Cape Cod hometown (she still thinks about Cape Cod; her pottery is “definitely” inspired by the Cape’s coastal colors). She and her husband came to Montville and converted a sheep farm into their family home. The exterior building that is her pottery studio used to be a “dark, dingy thing” that took years to renovate into the gorgeous, bright space it is today.
She is constantly in her studio these days because she’s hungry to create: “I like making useful things… I do a lot, but it’s never enough,” she remarks.
Kristin finishes shaping an entire tray of mugs while we talk. She will add a leaf design to them and then “fire” the mugs in an electric kiln to dry out and solidify the clay. She will pick a glaze to color the mugs, then fire the mugs once again. They will be good for sale after that.
Kristin believes in investing in creativity as a career. “That’s what I tell teenagers,” she explains. “If you know that’s what you want to do, just do it.”
She stands up and retrieves a new tray for her next mug design. She returns to the potter’s wheel and sits back down, ready to pick up more clay. The wheel begins to spin as she goes through the motions again.
“It’ll work out,” she smiles.
Kristin’s pottery is sold at Gardenshop and online.
