Kirsten Yizar

Kirsten Yizar has been working with clay since 2005. Her body of hand built work is comprised of sculptures that are both decorative and functional and are intended for both outdoor and indoor spaces. Kirsten explores the balance of nature through her artwork and her pieces often incorporate one or more of the classical elements: earth, water, air and fire. 

Kirsten’s ceramic journey began at University of the Arts in Philadelphia as an undergraduate student and continued to develop her craft as a graduate student attending the College of New Rochelle. As a graduate student, Kirsten worked as an apprentice to a known ceramic artist named Marlene Ferrell and she interned at the Clay Art Center in Port Chester, NY where she witnessed a close knit community of ceramic artists. 

The medium of clay is very meditative for Kirsten. Being that clay is derived from the earth, she says that it feels natural for her to work with clay, almost like it is a second skin. “Making my art is a very therapeutic process, I feel closer to nature when I am working with clay creating sculptures inspired by the beauty that nature is. Truth is, nature can never be replicated because it is so perfect. My work is meant to encourage people to appreciate the perfection that we are surrounded by rather than just walk right past it.”   Some of the artwork Kirsten has created was made using a red clay. Recently, Kirsten began sculpting with two different clay bodies, one fires to become a deep chocolate brown and the other one fires to be white. Using two different clay bodies in one piece of art is not typical practice but Kirsten wanted to create the illusion of rich brown bark with colorful fungi. The process of painting over these different clay bodies allows Kirsten to achieve more depth without overworking the surface of her sculptures.