Artist Statement

My work incorporates environmental themes that illustrate the fragility, power, and impermanence of the natural world. Referencing scientific imagery, data, and my personal experiences, I interpret the forces of nature through ceramic sculpture and wall installations. The medium of ceramics is a way to preserve information through the forming and firing process. I consider firing clay as an act of fossilization, creating a permanent record, perhaps an artifact or a memorial, of the ephemeral and the ethereal. Through these artifacts, I explore how we experience and relate to our environment and the climate crisis. By working at the intersection of art, design, craft, history, technology, and environmentalism, I hope that my work reflects the present, is an homage to our past, and expresses optimism for our future.

BIO

Kala Stein (b.1979) is an artist, designer, and educator who makes large-scale ceramic art installations and collectible design. Stein works at the intersection of craft, design, and sustainability, exploring notions of beauty and loss in the natural world. International teaching and travel inspires her work which is increasingly focused on environmental shifts and atmospheric mapping. Stein’s work speaks to her spiritual reverence for the natural world as she expands the boundaries of ceramic art through her processes and systems of making.

Kala received a National Endowment for the Arts Grant with her Co-Lab group; and teaches at studios and institutions across the globe including Alfred University, Anderson Ranch Center for the Art, La Meridiana International Ceramics School in Italy, Menlo Studio in Jingdezhen China, The Cool Projects in Greece, Sonoma Ceramics, and Diablo Valley College. Stein received her MFA in Ceramics from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and her BFA from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is one of the newest members of the International Academy of Ceramics.

Kala welcomes inquiries for both corporate commissions and teaching opportunities.

LINK TO Curriculum vitae

Land Acknowledgment: I respectively acknowledge that I live and work on the unceded lands of the Southern Pomo people, here in Sonoma Valley. I am humbled by the beauty and abundance of these lands and acknowledge the tragic affects of colonialism and the implications on tribal communities to this present day. I am committed to learning from and supporting native people’s resiliency and traditional relationship to the natural world.