My Story

My name is Kimberly Allison, and I’m a ceramic artist and instructor from Salem, Massachusetts. I’ve loved creating with my hands since I was a small child, but I never saw myself as an artist, because art was the stuff of museums, the “look but don’t touch” inaccessible masterworks.

Thinking that traditional art couldn’t be my path, I took a decade-long detour into a career in graphic design and film. But something was always missing, and in a quest to find it, I signed up for ceramics classes in 2012. The rest is history.

In clay, I discovered a medium that celebrates the connection between sight and touch, inviting interaction, not detachment. Pottery is for viewing, yes, but it also craves engagement and is designed to be used, cherished, and woven into our daily lives. It’s a part of our shared culture.

My Inspirations

My current body of work celebrates and explores the materiality of clay, its raw, elemental beauty, and its inherent tactile qualities. Iceland’s volcanoes, lava fields, black sand beaches, glaciers, and breathtaking terrain inspire my textures, and I draw form inspiration from both Scandinavian and Japanese design.

This work comes on the heels of an eight year journey in very precise, highly detailed, carved porcelain. Having given myself the freedom to move in an entirely new and unexpected direction has infused each new piece with a sense of exploration, freedom, joy, and a deeper connection to each moment I spend creating pots.

My Process

For me, the creative journey is as important as the finished pot. I work in small batches of 6-8 pieces if I’m throwing on the wheel or 1-2 pieces if I’m building with coils. My process starts with a sliver of an idea, and then the clay and I work together through several iterations to make the idea a reality. I am also working to develop my own clay bodies and glaze recipes.

I use a wide variety of smooth and groggy dark clay bodies, and my surface texture is mostly achieved through experiments with a myriad of slips, textural additives, and application processes.

Most of my pieces have no glaze on the outside and a quiet, complimentary glaze on the inside, chosen to support the elemental beauty of the raw exteriors.

My Experience

  • Studio Potter, 2017-Present
    K. Allison Ceramics, Salem, MA

    Ceramics Instructor, 2018-Present
    The Clay School, Lynn, MA

    Event Organizer, 2016-Present
    Lydia Pinkham Open Studios, Lynn, MA

  • American Craft Made Baltimore
    American Craft Council, Baltimore, MD
    2025, 2023, 2022

    Portland Fine Crafts Show
    Maine Crafts Association, Portland, ME
    2022, 2021, 2019

    Paradise City Arts Festival
    Northampton, MA
    2022, 2021, 2019

    Best of the East Exhibition
    311 Gallery Raleigh, NC
    2021

    Solo Exhibition: Unnatural Nature
    Southern Vermont Arts Center
    Manchester, VT
    2021

    AMOCA’s National Clay Open Studio and Sale
    Pomona, CA (virtual)
    2020

    Craft + Design
    Visual Arts Center of Richmond, VA (virtual)
    2020

    Peter’s Valley 50th Annual Craft Fair
    Peter’s Valley School of Craft
    Layton, NJ (virtual)
    2020

    Nordic Sól
    National Nordic Museum
    Seattle, WA (virtual)
    2020

    Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts
    State College, PA (virtual)
    2020

    CraftBoston + CraftBoston Holiday
    Society of Arts and Crafts
    Boston, MA
    2020, 2019

    Fall Crafts at Lyndhurst
    Tarrytown, NY
    2019

    CraftWestport
    Westport, CT
    2019

    Twin Cups National Ceramics Exhibition
    MWSU Clay Guild: St. Joseph, MO
    2016

  • “Wonderfully Diverse,” article
    Artscope magazine, September/October
    2021

    “4 Artists to Watch” article
    Boston Common magazine, Spring
    2019

    Named “Northampton Directors’ Pick”
    by Paradise City Arts Festival directors
    2019

  • 2012-2016 Studied Ceramics under MFA potters Kirsten Bassion & Alice Drew
    The Clay School, Lynn, MA

    2001-2005 Boston University, Boston, MA
    BS Film Production, Theory, and Design 
    Concentration in Graphic Design

    2024 Textures in Ceramics
    Maria Loram, Loram Ceramics, Virtual

    2024 Understanding Glazes
    Ceramic Materials Workshop, Virtual

    2024 Understanding Clay Bodies
    Ceramic Materials Workshop, Virtual

    2024 How to Build a Rocket Kiln
    Lisa Orr, Northborough, MA

    2024 Exploring Form: The Tea Bowl
    Andrew Sartorius, Oki Doki Studio, NY

    2024 Pukis, Pinch, Cut, Kurinuki, and Pit Fire
    Candice Methe, Alison Palmer Studio, CT

    2024 Sculptural Vessels, Hollow Forms
    Jerilyn Virden, The Handle Factory, MA

    2024, 2015 NCECA Conferences
    Richmond VA, Providence RI

    Workshops with The Clay School:
    2023, 2022 Wood/Soda Firing
    Ben Eberle, Shelburne Falls, MA

    2023 Extrusions, Slabs, and Surface
    Hayne Bayless

    2022 Architectural Forms, Cutting/Piercing
    Katie Bosley Sabin

    2019 Thrown and Altered Porcelain
    Martha Grover

    2018 Slip Transfers and Handbuilt Details
    Arthur Halvorsen

    2017 Bas Relief Tiles and Painted Surfaces
    Hannah Niswonger

    2016 Elevating the Handmade
    Julia Galloway

    2015 Image Transfer and Surface Decoration
    Meredith Host

    2014 Silkscreened Surfaces
    Alice Drew

    2013 Slipcasting and Mishima
    Nicole Aquillano

  • All galleries below carried my previous line of work. I’m currently looking for stockists for the new collection. Reach out if interested!

    Artful Home
    Madison, WI

    Los Angeles County Museum of Art
    Los Angeles, CA 

    Princeton University Art Museum Store
    Princeton, NJ

    Southern Vermont Arts Center
    Manchester, VT

    Pause Gallery
    Troy, NY

    Carolina Creations
    New Bern, NC

    Society of Arts and Crafts
    Boston, MA

    Red Tractor Trading Company
    Rockport MA

    Pickup Modern
    Lynn, MA