• Visit the PORTFOLIO

Studio visits are by appointment, at my two annual open studio/sales, and other special open studio dates.

• See a schedule of upcoming events.
• See a map to the studio.

About cathy

Sleeping birds, jumping rabbits, owls and imagined animals, these are some of the fantastical creatures that are carved and sculpted into clay wall platters, murals and tiles.

For over 20 years North Carolina artist Cathy Kiffney has been creating colorful one-of-a-kind ceramic wall works, tiles and vessels. Her recent works are narratives involving stylized characters of birds, butterflies, moths and animals. Using imagery from ancient myths and fantasy and from the natural world of flora and fauna she carves and sculpts intricate surface textures into the clay.

Kiffney is known for her imaginative uses of many different glazes in her palette that allow her to achieve the distinctive and vibrant surfaces that characterize her art.

She is a juried exhibiting member of Artspace Artists Association, the Piedmont Craftsmen's Guild and Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild, from which she was awarded the 2003 Dino Reed Award.

THE POTTERY

My ceramic artwork includes wall pieces, tiles, platters vessels and murals, all built by hand by me alone.

Each clay piece is one-of-a-kind, created in a series. The wall works and sculptures begin with deep red terra cotta clay; the shapes take form using a hand-building process called slab and pinch. I sometimes use my own molds and hand-made stamps as aids in the forming and texturing of the surface. Other times I draw into moist slabs of clay with my finger or carve using wood block carving tools.

After a couple of weeks of very slow drying the sculpture is painted with colored clay slip or engobe, then fired in a kiln to 1900 degrees. After it has cooled the piece is hand painted with ceramic glazes. The glazes are often very temperamental. Re-firing the piece with more glazes, lustres, crystal glazes is often necessary to achieve the vibrant surfaces that characterize my art.

THE STUDIO

I do my clay work in a new studio building in the woods of Orange County, North Carolina, that I share with my husband Mark Brown, a fine art painter.

Birds, deer, hawks, owls and butterflies visit us daily. These visitors populate my art and I use them to tell the story of the beauty and mystery of an idealized natural world.

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

University of North Carolina Memorial Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
SAS Institute, Research Triangle Park, NC
GTE South, Research Triangle Park, NC
Central Carolina Bank
Marriott Hotels, Hickory, NC
Duke Pediatric Cardiology Office Suites, Durham, NC
Project Compassion, Chapel Hill, NC
Duke Eye Center, Durham, NC