Katie Meili Messersmith

Resident Potter | Instructor | Mentor | Administrative Coordinator | Social Media Strategist

Katie Meili Messersmith (she/her) is a ceramic artist specializing in contemporary, functional, high fire reduction pottery with exquisite surface designs and contemporary glaze techniques. She regularly teaches Intermediate Wheel class in our Teaching Center and is a mentor in our Advanced Studies (ISM) program.

Artist Statement

I am an adopted Chinese American potter, who grew up here in Asheville, NC. Before starting my pottery journey, I excelled in STEM subjects and originally envisioned a career in that area. However after three concussions, I realized that working with clay was the key to live a happy and fulfilling life. Rather than a formal education in the ceramic arts, I gained the majority of my knowledge through the time-honored tradition of an apprenticeship, here at The Village Potters Clay Center. In 2020, I had the honor of joining the core collective team as a Resident Potter.

Katie Meili Messersmith throwing vases at the potters wheel in ISM studio

Katie Meili Messersmith with ware cart full of her finished pots, dot pots, abundance

I patiently and meticulously detail the surface of my work with slip-trailed dots. I place every single dot by hand, without a guide. Each piece’s dot pattern is determined by the divisibility of the number of dots in the first row that I apply. This means that every single pattern is unique as my initial spacing of dots in the first row is never quite the same and neither is the size of the dot. This division and resulting geometric patterns are influenced by my enduring mathematical mind. The surface embellishment combined with my personally formulated microcrystalline glaze creates a multidimensional surface that draws viewers in and leaves them with a zen-like satisfaction. All of my work is thrown on the wheel “finished”, meaning there is minimal to no trimming involved, and feature contemporary silhouettes defined by a mixture of smooth curves and distinct angles.

I was adopted from China as an infant when I was 8.5 months old. I have found significant comfort and belonging through creating art in this gorgeous medium that my heritage is strongly affiliated with. My pieces adorned with blue dots and glazed in my eggshell-white are a nod to my Chinese heritage and represent a deconstructed, minimalist, contemporary take on China’s most recognizable ceramics. I fire my work in a reduction gas kiln. In the kiln, my glaze and slip react to create what I call “Cobalt Whispers” that unpredictably trail off from the dots. These whispers balance the precision of my symmetrical designs. The juxtaposition of my orderly designs and the whimsy of the “Cobalt Whispers” is a metaphor for the desire to have control over life but ultimately surrendering to whatever comes.