A native of Orangeburg, SC, Kathy Triplett attended the Universidad de las Americas in Pueblo, Mexico and received her B. A. from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, GA. Additionally, she honed her artistic skills in courses at Arrowmont in TN, a clay cooperative in Denver, CO, and the architecture department at Georgia Tech.

While in Mexico, Triplett developed an interest in the geometric elements of that region's Olmec and Aztec architecture, which led to an interest in Art Deco architecture and design. Travels to Barcelona, Spain and an interest in the work of Gaudi contributed to a tendency towards more organic forms in her work. A recent trip to Mali, in west Africa, brought the influences of the colors of mudcloth and the shapes of the mud mosques and houses, to her work.

But what explains the sea creature and insect-like forms in the work? Time spent every year exploring the shores of Edisto Island, SC, where horseshoe crabs and sharks' teeth are found in abundance, contributes to the shapes and to the small detailed natural object additions on the teapots and the wall pieces.

Windows and openings from one layer into another are abiding elements in the work, metaphors for the layers of the self, or for the process of uncovering another wood that lies behind this one. An interest in texture and contrast leads Triplett to lengthy glaze testing in order to find new and intriguing surfaces.

Though she began her career as a wheelthrower, now handbuilding with slabs and coils is the method used to manipulate the clay. She is the author of Handbuilt Ceramics and Handbuilt Tableware and has exhibited at NewArt Forms, Chicago; First International Tokyo Crafts Expo, Tokyo, Japan; The Tea Party, American Craft Museum, New York, NY; ArkansasArt Center, Little Rock, AR, and is included in collections from Bolivia to Japan. She is a member of Piedmont Craftsmen, Inc., and the Southern Highland Guild and currently serves on the board of Handmade in Ame6ca, Asheville, NC.

She lives in NC with her husband and two dogs, in a solar house filled with handmade tiles and ceramic wall sconces, and works in a handbuilt studio nearby.

THE TILES

The textured surfaces of these clay tiles capture the fluidity and skin-like nature that clay may assume before being fired. As the surface is tom away or pushed through, an inner world reveals itself It is a mysterious world, of which we may only receive a glimpse, but it provides the structure, the framework, a pulse, for the layer above. Forms revealed, or partially revealed, originate from the shapes of seeds, insects, animals, as well as the mechanical, electronic world. The quiet color palette of simple earthy hues accentuate rather than dominate the forms. We are caught in a world where the line is blurred between natural and man-made.

 

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