Kenyon Hansen has taught ceramic classes in community studios, art centers, craft schools, and universities across the country. His soda fired pottery can be found at pottery tours, studio sales, galleries, and in homes and kitchens worldwide. Kenyon has been a resident artist at Center Street Clay, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, and the Archie Bray Foundation. He holds a BFA from Finlandia University and studied at Staffordshire University.   Currently he maintains a studio and is a full-time potter in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. 

My journey with clay began over twenty years ago when by chance, I took a wheel throwing class. Feeling clay spin through my hands changed my life and helped shape a vision for what my life could be. Seeking opportunities pulled me across the country, introduced me to friends, mentors, my wife and eventually became my full-time job. During these pivotal years my most valuable, informative, and memorable experiences, were working with potters in one-on-one situations.  This is why I’m so excited to be joining the Cohorts.Art program, it feels like coming home to family, full circle.  Small-scale mentorship fosters growth through reflective critique in an intimate and supportive environment. I’m honored to listen, share, grow and learn with you all. 

The root of my work is built around a kind of consideration and a sense of wonder. “What if” is a common starting point in my practice, a seed. These seeds most often times do not result in much, maybe a bud or two, and then they wither back or move on to some other place. Other times they grow into a shape, or a form full of potential and with right amount of attention, care, and spirit can bloom into something beautiful. This is the cycle of creating and for me an extension into teaching and what Clay Cohorts is all about. I look forward to meeting you.