When I started researching today’s interview with artist extraordinaire and potter Kevin O’Keefe from Mississippi I honestly would have missed the answer to that question of how long pottery as a process has been around by at least 15,000 years. 

Pottery is one of the oldest human inventions…(I thought that beer was!): a figurine discovered in the Czech Republic dates back to 29,000 or BC,[2]....pottery vessels discovered in China, date back to 18,000 BC. And pottery artifacts have been found in Japan estimated to be from about 10,500 BC).

Today’s guest, Kevin O’Keefe,  probably knew the answer to that questions….Kevin not only keeps an age old tradition alive through his pottery and artwork, but he makes useful and beautiful tools like one of a kind sake cups, incense holders and candle holders which are carried in Topdrawer shops in the United States. 

Kevin O’Keefe’s pottery is of iridescent glazes with copper reds or crystalline blues, they shimmer through the micro-crinkling of various types of reflective surfaces…rain drops of molten glaze purposefully frozen in time then they glow and glisten in candlelight…

Kevin keeps alive the magical things that can happen on a potter’s wheel, and then he tests every conceivable limit of a kiln that he built in his backyard, which burns at temperatures of nearly 2000 degrees (I looked that up)...   

Looking at his work I became interested in how someone like Kevin becomes a full time artist….why someone would take that leap of faith into a world where so many artist struggle to survive. 

During our interview, Kevin talk often of his old friend ‘andy’...  Andy, or Andrew Jessup, is the man behind the magical and illuminating design of the Topdrawer shops. Also from Mississippi, Andrew (or Andy, as Kevin calls him) and Kevin go way back….and their friendship, as you will see, is a big part of Kevin’s path toward becoming a full-time professional potter…and, I didn’t even know this was possible, they actually melted kilns…which are supposed to be the furnaces that do the melting, not be the things that actually melt themselves. 

To see Kevin’s work in-person, walk into any Topdrawer shop and you’ll find his unique and one of a kind sake cups, incense burners and candle holders…they are exquisite 

Visit Kevin’s website at http://www.kevinjohnokeefe.com to see a sampling of his work….or his YouTube channel @KevinJohnOKeefe.

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