Molding Her Own: Potter Creates Beautiful Art
Kelsey Thornton is most at home sitting around a pottery wheel. While she creates stunning pottery with an artistic flair, she also works toward her business degree, looking at a career in insurance, marketing or finance.
The senior from Noel, who attends MSU in Springfield, thinks about colorful red-glazed pottery, while she entertains notions of math, numbers and statistics.
“I’m right-brain and left-brain,” she says, laughing.
“My art and business could be used together. It’s a win-win either way.”
Thornton first began to dabble in pottery as a high school freshman in 2011, when her parents gave her
a pottery wheel.
Her great-uncle was a potter and her parents thought she might enjoy learning about pottery. It took Thornton a couple of years to learn how to master it. Help from her art teacher, watching videos and seeing demonstrations at Silver Dollar City guided her.
“It’s always so cool to see how they transform a piece of clay,” she said.
She eventually took some formal classes and learned a lot just by plowing forward.
“It’s an art you learn by doing,” she said.
Thornton also creates pencil drawings, charcoal drawings, watercolor paintings and acrylic paintings on wood slices. She likes to create using florals and bright colors, highlighting Bible verses in calligraphy.
Her true love, however, is creating pottery, which she finds challenging yet relaxing.
“I’ll have some music playing in the background, and I have no idea what I’m going to make,” she says. “It’s so neat to have the clay moving in your hands.”
As a child, Thornton always enjoyed art.
“Art was always my favorite class in school,” she said.
Though her friends told her she was talented, she didn’t realize her artwork was a cut above the others. She just liked to create.
As word travels of her talents, Thornton creates special pieces for church family and others. She’s willing to do commission pieces and form and mold unique items, like the urn she completed.
“I like challenging myself and make something I haven’t before.”
Creating pottery involves a series of steps. Thornton’s pottery undergoes two different firings at 2,000 degrees. She dries the pottery during a slow process so no cracks occur.
Pottery undergoes drying, firing, glazing, firing and cooling.
Patience and practice go hand in hand, she said.
The busiest time of year for her is Christmastime when she sells ornaments and other pottery pieces. Her pottery, however, is available throughout the year at Mustang Drug in Anderson. She also offers items online.
These days, as Thornton prepares for the future, she hopes to pursue a master’s degree and an internship so she can more exactly determine her specific business path.
She also dreams of teaching pottery classes and constantly improving her art.
A set of matching plates, cups and bowls could take her a couple of months, but it’s an idea she’s willing to entertain.
“Make whatever brings you joy.”