Kelly Brothers

For Kelly Brothers, pottery is both an artistic practice and an extension of her commitment to activism. Her wheel-thrown functional wares incorporate surface designs that reflect her passion for social justice and environmental change. As a gardener and potter, she is drawn to the transformation of raw materials-- earth and water become vessels, just as seeds grow into nourishment.

"As an activist I work for food justice, growing and giving away fresh food with and within my local community. As a potter I strive to integrate my passion for social change into the art I create in the studio. It excites me that through my work as both gardener and potter, earth and water together, tended by hand and exposed to heat, transform into something edible or usable that before was not. I do not think of my pots as just pots, but as uniquely defined by their use. They are a celebration of seeds planted, of creation, of change." - Kelly Brothers

Kelly is a studio potter in Petaluma, California where she works as a studio assistant and apprentice at Petaluma Pottery and FLM Tile & Ceramics. She is the current apprentice for Forrest Lesch-Middelton. Kelly began working in clay on the wheel at Petaluma Pottery Studio in 2019. She now teaches classes and private lessons through the studio.