Ceramic artist Kip O’Krongly’s second floor studio.
HER ART STUDIO POSSESSES an almost industrial, spartan look. Clean lines. Tidy. Labels. Schedules. Everything just so.
Supplies and tools, all in their place.
Kip O’Krongly freely admits to her need for orderliness in the second floor ceramics studio of her Northfield home.
Gertie rises from her spot beneath the windows.
Here, in this slanted ceiling room with the tile floor she laid and with sunlight streaming in, Kip’s dog, Gertie, rests briefly on a blue and green plaid blanket below double windows. A short respite from visitors, like me, who have filtered into Kip’s studio and home during the South Central Minnesota Studio ARTour.
During this (last) weekend open house, I am visiting the studios of select artists I have not seen on past tours.
Art Kip creates on her ceramic plates sometimes makes statements about social issues, like the piece on the right.
I am drawn to Kip’s place by the tractors, wind turbines and corn I’ve seen showcased online on her ceramics.
Definitely a transportation themed piece going here.
She tells me that themes of food, transportation and energy run through her work. Once she points that out, I ask whether she was raised on a farm. No. Alaska.
We don’t get into details about the themes, but I mention that I grew up on the southwestern Minnesota prairie and am visually troubled by the wind turbines that populate the landscape, ruining, in my opinion, the aesthetics of the prairie.
More than tractors and corn… Corn grows from oil rigs.
Kip says she welcomes how her art opens up dialogue and the opportunity to hear differing opinions on social issues. And I sense her sincerity in stating that.
The door opens into Kip’s studio.
I am intrigued, too, by her name. Kip O’Krongly. It possess a certain snap, a certain strength, a certain ruggedness. I never ask. But I don’t need to. Her work, talent and confidence as an artist define Kip O’Krongly.
FYI: The works of two other ceramics artists, Joel Froehle and Juliane Shibata, were also showcased in Kip’s home. However, they were not in-house when I visited.
Please click here and then here to read previous posts from the South Central Minnesota Studio ARTour. And check back for more posts in this five-part series.
© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
Very nice studio and gorgeous works in ceramics! Although, Gertie the golden caught my eye….I love goldens. 😉
How talented some people are! 😀
Oh, sweet Gertie. I had to keep her from slipping out the front door upon my arrival and departure. Sweet Golden.
I yearn for my own space. The dining table is a sad option.
Ah, yes, a writer does need her own space. How about that playhouse in your backyard. Bring it to ground level. Or is it too small, too low of a ceiling? I know it wouldn’t work for you in colder weather, but in the warmer months. Or find an old shed somewhere and relocate it to your property. Easy for me to suggest when I’m not spending the money or doing the work, right?
I am fortunate to have a small office, once a sewing room (previous owner) and then a nursery and after that a toy room since we’ve lived here. Maybe someday it will become a laundry room when I am too old and feeble to traipse down to the hole of a laundry room in the basement. But then I wouldn’t have an office and that would be bad.
That would be very bad! You know, I love your idea, though – a wee little office outside – huh. ok. now you’ve given me a vision.
thank you.
And I want to be invited to the ribbon cutting ceremony…
OH, what a wonderful dream I now have! And yes…I’ll invite you. Just don’t hold your breath – it will likely take a couple years. 🙂
Oh, I know how these projects go. I’ve had a hole in my dining room wall, from where we removed a chimney, for several years. Sigh.
We’ve had a hole in our bathroom wall for…years. Thankfully, it’s not affecting the usability of said bathroom. Actually…if it did…it would have been fixed a lot sooner. Drag…
I did not notice that hole in the bathroom wall, if you’re referencing the one I used.
OH, good!
Loving the art – great captures:)
I love art with a rural theme.