Kathleen Kalish is a largely self-taught ceramic artist in Wilmington, North Carolina, working in hand-built stoneware and porcelain. She began working with clay in 2016 and builds entirely by hand, shaping each piece from slabs rather than throwing on the wheel, a slower way of creating she returns to for the meditation in it.

She often leaves the clay raw and unglazed so its surface can lead, and finishes pieces with gold leaf, luster, and reactive glazes in cream, cobalt, and teal. Her forms range from the functional to the sculptural: jars, organic vessels, ceramic wall pieces, whisky and coffee cups featuring molecular structures, and the Make Your Own Fortune Set.

Working in small batches, she makes one-of-a-kind and limited-edition work in the belief that art belongs woven into daily life, until the beauty in the rooms we move through becomes second nature.

She works from a home studio she shares with her husband Phillip and their three cats, Cassian, Camina, and Kino.