We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Blake Kennedy and Kimberly Rumfelt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Blake Kennedy below.
Alright, Blake Kennedy and Kimberly thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Kimberly and Blake met in San Antonio Texas in 2015. It is here that Good Hope Studios was born and they merged their creative practices. In Fall of 2022 Blake was offered and accepted a position at NC State University’s Craft Center as the Clay Studio Manager. For seven years they had built a community in San Antonio and now it was time to take a risk, to move 1300 miles away and expand their community. Since the move, Good Hope Studios is growing new roots, building a new studio and forming new connections.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Good Hope Studios is the result of our two studio practices coming together. We do each work on our own individual projects as well as together on collaborative series. The name, Good Hope Studios, has its roots in North Carolina, Blake’s home state and where Kimberly attended graduate school. Good Hope Drive is the name of the road where Blake’s grandparents built their home, and where his parents now live. The land there gives us feelings of joy, calm, and optimism. These are qualities that we attempt to weave into the work we make and the life we are actively building.
Our work includes functional and sculptural ceramics as well 2-D projects in watercolor and prints. We believe quality handmade objects have the ability to infuse a space with warmth, to quietly nestle their way into our daily routines, and to create connections. Whether we are working on a new line of cups + plates, a sculptural wall installation, or creating a series of watercolor paintings, a focus on craftsmanship remains central to the projects we create.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal of Good Hope Studios is provide opportunities for creative outlets and experiences. The path to this may come in many forms, it might be through our own personal studio work, teaching workshops + classes, community outreach, or contributing to fellow artist opportunities. Both Blake and Kimberly are active in arts education. They strongly believe in the positive impact the arts have in people’s lives. Their studio work and teaching inform one another by creating an opportunity for them to share what they know while at the same time learn and grow from those in their classes.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The act of making is one of the most important things we can do as humans. To use our hands, to build something and to learn a process deepens understanding of the world around us. It develops appreciation for time, for curiosity, for complexity, and craft. People who work within studio arts, at all ages, cultivate this connection and share it with those around them. Sharing a view of the world through the lens of a maker with as many people as possible is rewarding and helps sustain our own creative renewal. 
Contact Info:
- Website: www.goodhopestudios.com
- Instagram: @goodhopestudios
- Facebook: @thegoodhopestudios
Image Credits
Images courtesy of Good Hope Studios