Kim Brook

Bio

Kim Brook is a visual artist and arts educator based in Lawrence, KS. Her passion for building and strengthening community is evident through teaching, organizing community events, and serving on the Friends of the Art Museum board for the University of Kansas Spencer Museum of Art

For the past five years, one of Kim’s major commitments to increasing community connections is Valentine’s Card making project to benefit Meals on Wheels recipients. She has also assisted in creating collaborative public art pieces with Boys and Girls Clubs and youth summer day camps. In addition, the past six summers she has taught weeklong arts programs for K-5th grade in Elk, Grant, and Howard counties (Western Kansas). In the classes, Kim challenges students to think creatively as an everyday process and reframes how art can build community.

In addition, Kim has served as an art show juror, a facilitator of the Artist Inc. program through Mid-America Arts Alliance, and offers workshops in ceramics and Korean cooking. Her work has been shown in multiple gallery exhibitions, collaborations, and art festivals.

Artist Statement

At the root of my art stems the journey of reclaiming joy amidst grief. While narratives of loss vary, I aspire to manifest moments of memories and acknowledgment of a collective loss experience with functional ceramics. Cups for tea, bowls for meals, and vases for flowers invite reflection and community. My porcelain pieces are softly textured, quiet, and delicate in appearance, but strong in their use.

The path to making these pieces has many steps. First, porcelain clay is wheel-thrown or hand-built into forms of cups, bowls, or vases. After the pieces are trimmed and slowly dried to a "bone dry" stage they are ready to be water-etched. I brush on designs with shellac, let the shellac dry, and then abrade with water to create a gentle relief on the clay. Much of the piece is left unglazed to highlight the designs and smooth texture of the porcelain. If the piece is carved, I will use a pale color transparent glaze to highlight the texture.

When I create these pieces, I often contemplate the passing of loved ones and what someone called my new normal. These pieces aren’t made to accept a new normal, a life without my loved one. Rather, these pieces beg to find solace in community and in oneself. To give permission to smile again, to laugh again, to cry whenever the tears may fall. It is an honor to share my work with you. Thank you.