KRISTINE POOLE

About Kristine Poole

Kristine Poole’s work explores themes centered on sociocultural experience, her sensitive sculptural approach to the figure allowing the inner emotional landscape to be revealed through the external forms of the body. Contrasting classically rendered figures with contemporary motifs and surface treatments, she frequently juxtaposes body language, posture and attitude with text, layering the strength of gesture with the power words have to convey, create, and define reality and experience.

Poole received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Michigan University, graduating Summa Cum Laude with a concentration in ceramic sculpture. She then apprenticed with master ceramist John Glick. Shortly after her move to Santa Fe, NM, in 1994, Kristine’s creative focus shifted to the performing arts. During this time, she concentrated on teaching and developing choreography — opening her own dance studio as well as founding “Body Flight,” a professional dance company.

Building a Life-size Clay Figure

(continued)
Now she has come full circle, applying her refined knowledge of movement, line, anatomy, and human experience to her life-sized ceramic figurative work. Her sculptures have been shown across the country and have been juried into various international publications, including Lark Books’ “500 Figures in Clay,” “The 2013/2014 International ARC Salon Catalogue,” and “Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art,” for which she was also awarded the Silver Medal in the Dimensional Category. She currently lives in Santa Fe, NM, with her husband Colin, a painter and sculptor with whom she frequently collaborates on sculptural series.

Selected Awards and Honors

Silver Award: Dimensional Division. Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art, 2014  
Finalist: Dimensional Division, Spectrum 21: The Best in Contemporary Fantasy Art, Flesk Publications , 2014
Honorable Mention: Functional Art, Larson Gallery, Yakima WA,  2013
Best of Show: We Who Are Clay, Fuller Arts Center, Los Alamos, NM, 2013
“40 under 40.” New Mexico Business Weekly, Albuquerque, NM, 2005 
Selo-Shevel Gallery Award: Michigan Ceramics 93, Detroit Artists Market, Detroit, MI, 1993
Best of Show: Women in the Arts in the 90s, The Depot Gallery, Negaunee, MI, 1992

Education

Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI: BFA 
Santa Fe Clay, “Cold Finishes” with Gretchen Ewert, Santa Fe NM, Assistantship Grant 
Santa Fe Clay, “The Figure as Artificial Artifact” with Thaddeus Erdahl, Santa Fe, NM
Santa Fe Clay, “Figure Sculpting” with Lisa Reinertson, Santa Fe, NM, Assistantship Grant 
Crysophis Glass, Apprenticeship with Steven Hourigan, Master Glass Blower, Tesuque, NM
Plum Tree Pottery, Apprenticeship with John Glick, Master Ceramist, Farmington Hills, MI