Terri Kern

My work has always documented my personal history. Each piece functions as a visual marker that commemorates a moment, an event, a daydream, or a memory. The concept of resilience is woven through my most recent pieces as I reflect upon and create work about my life, which has grown rich with possibilities and complications. The documentation takes the form of narrative imagery that is carved and painted on the surfaces of my ceramic pieces.

As I’ve continued to imbue my work with ever more personal stories of love and loss, triumph and hardship, caregiving and receiving, the scale has grown more intimate, making each piece a small treasure. I hope that my pieces, with their attention to detail and deeply felt imagery, slowly reveal their stories to the viewer.

Symbolic Narrative Imagery: Birds represent both myself and the other women in my life: mother, sisters, and friends. Cages reveal the juxtaposition between fragility and strength. Nests are possibilities. Ladders symbolize doubt, the struggle to grow. Snakes signify forgiveness as they need to shed their skins as they grow. Trees and leaves stand for compromise and change. Seafaring imagery maps my artistic journey. Chairs present a safe place to land. Blank pieces of paper and puffballs communicate ideas yet to be investigated. Wolves, dogs, and foxes represent the idea of being steadfast and true. Needle and thread evoke the process of piecing one’s world back together. Pencils imply creativity. Stars light the way when things seem dark.

Terri Kern received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from Ohio University in 1991. In 1995, she left a teaching position at Morehead State University to open her own ceramics studio. Since that time, Terri has exhibited nationally and internationally in France, Germany, Japan, China, and Cuba. Her work has been featured in Cincinnati Magazine, Clay Times, Ceramics Monthly, Ceramic Arts Daily, and The Journal of The American Art Pottery Association.

Terri has had a long history of leadership and community involvement, including establishing and funding the “The Joyce Clancy Legacy Fund”, a non-profit to subsidize ceramics programming at Cincinnati schools, from 2011-2024; collaborating annually with Summerfair, Inc. to engage university art students, and serving on the board of the Clay Alliance. She and two other artists created a community-based, visual arts outreach program, “Art in Action”, which offered free art classes and demonstrations to the public. The program resulted in a collaborative piece consisting of a ceramic nest that holds 300 miniature clay books, made by visitors to Terri’s studio. The piece is on display in Cincinnati City Hall. She was selected by ArtWorks to design and manage the creation of 20 mixed media paintings with a team of art teachers and high school students for the Cincinnati Ronald McDonald House.

She has received four Individual Artist Grants, been nominated twice for the prestigious United States Artist Fellowship, and has been recognized with numerous awards for excellence in the field of ceramics. Her work is included in Museum, Corporate, International, and Private Collections. She lectures to aspiring artists several times a year, teaches workshops, and in 2022, created an on-demand teaching website, TerriKernClasses.com. Most recently, she had a 4-month solo exhibition at the Taft Museum of Art, along with an artist talk and workshop in early 2025.