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Writer's pictureKristen O'Dell

Creative Changes - Welcome to KLO Studio!

Updated: Dec 23, 2019

Welcome to my NEW website! Many of you have followed me since I became River Glisten Pottery 10 year ago. At that time, I was fresh out of college with bachelor degrees in both Art Education K-12 and Visual Arts - Ceramics; including an associates degree in business. My journey continued on as an elementary art teacher, while still exploring the wonders of clay on the side. Jump forward 5 years, and I am now a high school art teacher who is still developing her skills as a potter, and has also returned to college, working towards a graduates degree. Two years later, I am head of the art department and I am teaching classes in the evenings at a local art shop downtown. Another 2 years go by, and I set up a booth space at our local Farmers Market to showcase my current work, as well as promote ceramics for all ages via demonstrations and mini lessons on the pottery wheel. I also started participating in art and craft shows, and was recognized at one of the events with an award for Best Tent Display. Last year, I helped establish our town's Art Council, and this year, I had the honor of receiving Art Educator of the Year - Secondary Education, for the State of Indiana. I have worked really hard to achieve these successes, and I want to keep improving. So, in order to recognize ALL the art I create, which does include pottery, I have launched KLO Studio to represent my dabbles I enjoy developing in all sorts of mediums. Feel free to look around the website, and let me know what kind of art is your favorite. :)


Oh, you want to know about the new logo? Sure! Over the past few years, I have been drafting different ways of incorporating myself into a logo design. Initially, I was drawn to the look of initials and letters when paired with simple shapes and symbols. So, I started off with my monogram: KLO. From there, the change became how best to organize the letters to create a composition. I struggled with the notion of keeping the letters in order and facing the same direction. But finally I granted myself the freedom to explore what could evolve from taking such a risk. Thus, an idea started to take form. To outline my initials K and L, I drew a large circle around to enclose them. I had to decide if the circle would present the O for my last name, or if I would include the third initial on the inside, as well. I created both versions, and felt the empty space above the L was best suited for my letter O. Overall, the idea was good, but I knew I could make this logo better. Ultimately, I desired to have the logo be a piece of art in itself, leading the viewer to appreciate looking at the symbol as much as learning about its story. As many of you know when looking at my pottery in particular, you will find the bunny symbol stamped into the clay as part of my mark. So I found it only natural that the bunny would some how included itself in this new logo design. (Here comes a sharing moment...a family memory, if you will...As I was growing up, my parents loved to tell the story of how I learned to run before crawling or walking. I just wanted to get to the next great thing, and to tell you the truth, not much has changed on this front. :) My parents also liked to give us family nicknames, and as you can guess, I was dubbed Bunny...which inevitably lead to my love for and desire to raise rabbits for many years to come.) Once I looked at my different rabbit poses, I realized the O was a perfect "window" for the bunny to be looking through, as if it was staring off into the distance...like when I used to look out of our house window into the trees of the "back 40". This visual reminded me of how my sister and I would always go hiking in the woods, no care in the world, just enjoying nature and the hidden treasures we would find in our travels. Liking where the concept was going, I continued to mind-map images and words that went along with nature, hiking, and treasure. I discovered with great joy, that the circle around my letters could represent a compass and a pocket watch together. Both serve as the means to navigate toward something: the pocket watch representing loyalty to time and the compass representing infinite possibilities. To polish the image, the final element to unify my new logo was choosing a color. I wanted a base color which I personally favored, but also one that made sense with the imagery itself. So, I chose turquoise - a mixture of blue and green, sky and earth, water and land. I am so excited about this final version, and I hope you enjoyed learning about how this piece of art came to be.

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