We were lucky to catch up with Kelsey Ochs recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I was incredibly fortunate to have an amazing teacher and ceramics program offered through my (public) high school. I took a beginning ceramics class on a whim as a sophomore when I was only 15, to satisfy an art credit, and was immediately hooked. We had a gas fired kiln and an incredible array of clays and glazes that I am only able to appreciate fully in hindsight. Tad Riste was an incredible potter who had ended up teaching high school as a favor to a friend. He held an MFA and had been on “the bus” with Ken Kesey, and was adept at getting the least motivated students to open up (even though I was not one of those students, I truly appreciated his creative energy and soul, and the art department trifecta of ceramics, film photography, and drawing/painting were a sort of refuge). I feel lucky to have learned from someone with such a deep mastery of the craft–I believe those foundations are absolutely formative in one’s creative journey, and they are something I strive to instill in my students to this day.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a ceramic artist and small business owner based in Missoula, Montana. My ceramics practice focuses on functional stoneware and porcelain forms intended for everyday use, and my community pottery studio, Throw Ceramics, offers classes, shelf rentals, and space to work for established artists and students.

I have been working with clay in one form or another for over 20 years. My training as a studio artist and architect informs my work, and I am constantly refining my choices of clay bodies and glazes with functionality and aesthetics in mind. The majority of my work is wheel-thrown. Each piece is unique and hand-made, requiring multiple steps—throwing, trimming, firing, glazing, and firing again—to reach its final form.

I finds inspiration in the landscapes and stories of the western United States. When not working in the studio, I enjoy adventuring outside with my family, reading a good book, and continuing to learn about clay.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Support the arts and your local small businesses! Resources that go into your community stay in your community. Support can come in the form of money, time, energy, and enthusiasm. Many of the things that make a community vibrant are the local artists, musicians, small businesses, farmers, and other entrepreneurial individuals that offer services to the community. Showing up to support them is one of the best things you can do to ensure that they stick around and continue to thrive.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The pandemic was an inflection point in my life story. Prior to 2020 I had been living and working in San Francisco, CA, and could not afford to do art in a full time capacity. I taught classes at a community studio and threw pots as I could, but there were never enough hours in the day with a full time (non creative) job. In 2019 my husband and I decided we were ready to leave San Francisco, but we didn’t know where we wanted to go. We moved all of our possession except one car load into storage in August of 2019 and traveled for several months in search of a new home. In January of 2020 I found out I was pregnant, and we decided we should probably find a rental house and settle down for a bit. Missoula fit the bill of all the things we were looking for: a smaller town with better access to wilderness, a lower cost of living so I could pursue my art full time, and a location close enough to both of our families. We were so lucky to sign a lease on a house in March of 2020, and I summarily learned that I didn’t like being a solo artist fully dependent on my production capacity for income as the world shut down. The combination of my past experience working for a range of creative businesses, my love of clay, and realizing it was going to be hard to work for others ever again with the addition of a kiddo led me down the path of opening a community pottery studio. Looking back, it seems like a natural, easy progression, but I was far from sure I could pull it off, and I still wake up feeling like I won the lottery every day.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.throwceramics.com
• Instagram: @throw.ceramics
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelseyochs/

Image Credits
Caitlin Ochs & Kayla McCormick