Kris Mannion

My work is influenced by northern European aesthetics.  I am drawn to a minimalist palette using crisp colors and geometric designs on a white or black background. My primary medium is porcelain slip casting.  All my forms are original designs translated to molds that I engineer in my studio. My tableware is functional art for everyday pleasure.  

  • Ceramics
Artist Bio

Kris graduated in Psychology with degrees from the University of Detroit and the University of Idaho, enjoying a long career in a variety of human service venues.  Enamoured with pots, particularily of Pueblo origin, she took community ceramic classes and moved a throwing wheel into her kitchen and a kiln into her garage.  Her mother Maryann used to say, "You have a flair for art."  Heeding that maternal voice, she left her position as a School Psychologist in 2008 and enrolled in the Fine Arts program at Boise State University.  Kris entered the ceramics department with a modicum of technical skill acquired along the way in her studies with local ceramic teachers, and the self directive, "I want to be an artist."  The most significant development of attending art school was to discover her own voice in clay, inspired by midcentury minimalism.  Kris was introduced to the art of mold making and slip casting.  So inspired, upon graduating in 2013 with her BFA, she devoted herself to advanced study and mentoring with known artists in this genre.  Kris's home studio expanded to a larger space that accommodates the classic necessities of a throwning wheel and slab rollers, and all the building materials and power tools required to design and engineer plaster molds for casting her functional tableware.  Her work has been shown in local galleries, and in juried shows in Boise; Baker City, Oregon: Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Yakima, Washington.  Current work is available at the Boise Art Museum gift shop; at Crossroads Carnegie Art Center in Baker City, Oregon; on line and in her studio. 

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