Meet Gabriel Kline

At the heart of my artistic and professional goals lies a firm belief in the Modernist notion that it is the responsibility of artists to address and attempt to correct the shortcomings of their society, as well as a personal quest for tranquility and peace through creative endeavoring. My commitment to these causes represents the fundamental drive behind my work in ceramics, as an artist and a teacher.

In terms of my own work, I seek to create pieces that are functional in three senses of the word. The first function of my work is to fulfill a spiritual search for physical and mental calm. A student of ancient Taoist teachings as found in the primary texts Nei-Yeh (Inward Training), Yuan Dao (Tracing the Way to Its Source), Tao-te Ching (The Way and Its Power), and the inner chapters of The Chuang-Tzu, I conceive my daily life in terms of the harmony achieved (or lacking) between my surroundings and myself. When at the wheel, I achieve this harmony perhaps more comprehensively than in any other aspect of my life.

Recent experiments with guided breathing techniques and zazen meditation before and while working have yielded pieces functional in a second sense. These “calm” pots are intended to function as meditation bells for the beholder Ideally, to look at my pieces will be to bear witness to and engage the physical and mental calm necessary for their creation. It is my hope that to interact with one of my pieces will be to be calmed yourself.

Finally, my work is functional in a third, more traditional sense. The work is made in order to be used in both the everyday activities of the owner and for special occasions. In particular, my work is made with the intention of encouraging harmonious interaction and mindful, conscious action while making tea, preparing food, drinking saki or whiskey, arranging flowers, or planting herbs. Very often, the work puts one in a position to serve others, be they family, friends, or new faces.

While I find this style of work personally fulfilling, I also enjoy collaborations with other ceramists and with artists in other fields. In coming years I hope to collaborate with graffiti artists by bringing a third dimension to their work, with fashion designers to create uniquely wearable pieces, with photographers using cyanotype techniques, and with musicians, whose rhythmic creations resonate with the timing and rhythm of the throwing process.

Professionally, I hope to establish a working studio that also serves as a community oriented center for public service, large scale projects, and education. I see public service and teaching as art forms in their own right and ones in which I invest myself wholly. As the Creative Arts Department Head for Camp Wekeela for Boys and Girls in Canton, Maine, and as a pottery instructor at the Dragonfly Studio on Tybee Island, Georgia and at Sunset Ceramics in St, John, USVI, I have worked to create safe, supportive environments for children and adults to explore their creativity.

In the future, I hope to work with segments of the population who might benefit most from clay work and groups that might not otherwise be offered the opportunity. These groups could include, for example, the homeless, orphans, prisoners and parolees, or the differently abled. I believe not only that these groups would benefit from instruction and work with clay, but that their unique perspectives as ostracized groups in our society would result in powerful and resounding works of art. Organizations like Baltimore Clayworks in Maryland, The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and that Carlisle Arts Learning Center in Carlisle Pennsylvania serve as inspiration. Projects such as city murals, after school programming for children, and “empty bowls” dinner benefits are worthwhile endeavors. The midnight basketball leagues that operate in a number of cities across the country also strike me as worthy programs with potential analogues in the world of ceramics.

I have coined this aspect of my professional goals “civic ceramics” and consider it an appropriate response to the Modernist artist’s challenge to address and suggest solutions for our society’s problems. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had in ceramics so far. I wish to continue to experiment and expand within this medium and make available to others all that I have learned. It is my intention with this to influence the world as positively as possible. Peace.

Born and raised in the hills of Pennsylvania, potter Gabriel Kline now calls Asheville, North Carolina home. He has a truck and a pretty artist girlfriend. Now if he can just get a dog, he will have everything that he has ever wanted.

Gabriel Kline is proudly represented by WICKWIRE fine art/folk art in Hendersonville, North Carolina.