Karlene Jean Kantner is a ceramic artist whose work celebrates the expanding relationship between her body, landscape and gardens. She holds a Bachelors of Fine Art in Ceramics from the University of Montana where she received honors for community arts engagement and teaching. She moved east to make work and teach classes at the Flower City Arts Center in Rochester NY as an artist in residence. Firing in both an electric kiln and a woodfired open pit, her work ranges in size and integrates plants with deep sentimentality. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Montana Museum of Art and Culture and has most recently shown in a solo exhibition at the Berkshire Botanical Gardens. She now has a collection of work available at Reside in Cambridge Massachusetts. Currently, Karlene lives and works at Bark Mill Pond in the Berkshires where she continues her research in a land and garden based ceramic practice.
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics, University of Montana, Missoula MT | 2016
Residency & Internship
Ceramic Resident, Flower City Arts Center, Rochester NY | 2019 - 2020
Internship, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula MT | 2014 - 2016
Honors
Selected to Attend The Teaching Artist Institute of Rochester, funded by New York State Council on the Arts, Rochester NY | 2020
Scholarship to attend The National Conference of Community Arts & Education National Guild of Community Arts & Education, San Francisco, CA | 2017
Community Arts and Achievement Award, UM, Missoula MT | 2016
Invited Artist, Woodfire Invitational, Missoula MT | 2015
Museum of Art and Culture Purchase Award, Juried Exhibition, UM, Missoula MT | 2015
Julia Galloway Award, 20th Annual Holiday Juried Exhibition, UM, Missoula MT | 2014
Solo Exhibitions
Volumes, Anna & Frederick Leonhardt Galleries, Berkshire Botanical Gardens, Stockbridge MA | 2023
New Work at Federal Twist, Federal Twist Garden, The Garden Conservancy’s Open Days, Stockton NJ | 2022
Tulipomania, Trade Secrets, Limerock, CT | 2022
Light and Sound Series 1, Zootown Arts and Community Center (ZACC), Missoula MT | 2018
Baskets Series 1, Historic Stensrud Building, Missoula MT | 2017
Functional Works, Jewelry Boxes and Lingerie Vessels, Betty’s Divine, Missoula MT | 2015
Home Pride, performance, Montana State University, Bozeman MT | 2013
Group Exhibitions & Collaborations
LUSH 2: A Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, Lighthouse Art Center, Tequesta, FL | 2022
Momento Gaudium: Sigma Vitae, Resident Exhibition, Flower City Arts Center, Rochester, NY | 2020
Hand to Hand, Instructor Exhibition, Flower City Arts Center, Rochester NY | 2020
29th Annual Members Exhibition, Rochester Contemporary Art Center, Rochester NY | 2019
LUSH: A Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, Lighthouse Art Center, Tequesta, FL | 2019
Woodfired in Montana in Conjunction with The Cultural Confluence Woodfire Symposium, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula MT | 2018
Lovers, Gallery of Visual Arts, University of Montana, Missoula MT | 2018
40th Anniversary Retrospective, Brunswick Gallery, Missoula MT | 2018
Potsketch, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula MT | 2018, 2017, 2016
Community Exhibition, Clay Studio of Missoula, Missoula MT | 2016
Creativity, Craft, Community and Change, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore MD | 2015
Monster Project, ZACC, Missoula MT | 2015
Funny Bunny Circus, Real Good Art Space, Missoula MT | 2015
Employment & Teaching Experience
Ceramic Instructor, Flower City Arts Center, Rochester NY | 2019 - 2020
Visiting Artist Instructor for Art in Our Schools, Bloomfield Elementary, Bloomfield NY | 2020
Youth Art Education Program Director, ZACC, Missoula MT | 2014 - 2017
Assistant to the Gallery Director, Gallery of Visual Arts, UM, Missoula MT | 2015