Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident (ASPN) 2024
Lily Kuntz was born and raised in Columbus, OH where her passion for ceramics began in high school. She first attended Savannah College of Art and Design in 2018 majoring in Production Design, while there she worked on student films and theater productions designing, constructing, and painting sets. Since her college did not have a ceramics major and Lily still had a love for working with clay, she sought out opportunities within the community. Through a community studio, she took lessons and worked independently to build her skills and get back into clay.
In 2022 she transferred to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte as a 3D Interdisciplinary major and began pursuing her studies in ceramics. While at UNCC Lily has developed new skills and begun to push her creative ideas through the medium of clay. Lily has worked as a studio assistant for UNCC’s ceramic department and as an assistant for her professor’s personal studio work. This year she also revived the Ceramics Club at UNCC, which has not been active since COVID, in order to expand the accessibility of ceramics to all majors on campus. Lily is currently a rising senior and will be graduating with her BFA in December of 2024.
I create work drawing inspiration from the ever-changing element of water. Conceptually, I’m striving to capture the duality of water as both a creative and destructive force. Pushing this idea further I want my pieces to visually communicate the fluidity of emotions and unpredictability of life experiences. To figure out how to best demonstrate these concepts, I am currently exploring how my work may take on different forms whether that be handbuilt sculptures, slip cast installations, or wheel thrown vessels. I am particularly interested in exploring different ways to manipulate surfaces to create tactile sculptures and how to use repetition to create immersive installations. As my work continues to build I want to reflect on the many ways water moves throughout our lives as both a calming and turbulent feature.