Rising Stars: Meet Michelle Kaisersatt

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Kaisersatt.

Hi Michelle, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My life is a circuitous road. Beginning on a small rural farm in southern Minnesota, I was the eldest of six children.

When I was little, I always loved coloring with my mom. She taught me how to ‘shade’. She loved to plant gardens in the yard, and I… planted gardens in the middle of the woods. Defying the need for sun. I was determined. And the marigolds grew and bloomed! (My first lesson in will and persistence.)

As I got older, I would rake newly cut grass into walls of imaginary homes. Loving art and creating, I even tried to draw Bambi to an art schools liking, but never quite made the grade. So when I graduated from high school, I went into broadcasting and television at Riverland Community College. The closest thing to ‘art’ that I could afford. After receiving my FCC license, I hit the road—back home—and started working at a nearby radio station. Unfortunately, I was the means to an end for a long-time reporter, and my position was not radio broadcasting, but journalism. A report of local bowling scores was terribly painful, and didn’t last long. The radio station accomplished what they wanted and I realized I was wanting to head in a different direction – away from being a ‘pawn’.

Then I met my future husband. Dale was an intuitive observer. He knew about the interests I had in creativity and encouraged me when interior design became an opportunity within technical education. I graduated from Dakota Tech with an Associate’s degree in Interior Design and Sales and shortly after, headed to Waterloo, Iowa for the first five years of our thirty-four-year marriage. Eventually we moved back to southern Minnesota, not twenty miles from the home place, and being in the house-building industry, we did the hands-on work for three of our own homes over the course of our lives together.

When I was thirty-five, I came to a turning point. I realized my kids would one day grow up and not be ‘hanging around with mom’ as much. And my question was…what are ‘my’ interests—outside of my children—for me????

Enter Southern Minnesota Clay Center. A small non-profit pottery studio housed in the Arts and Heritage Center of St. Peters’ basement. Included where eight potters’ wheels strategically placed in one room, tethered to the ceiling by power cords, and a glazing and firing room down the hall. Classes were offered to the public, and I anxiously signed up for a session, and then one session became two, and by the end of the third session, I was co-teaching a beginners class. During this time, I experimented in my craft – engraving words into the rims and exploring carved bases instead of trimmed-as was the taught and correct method. Thus began my life in the pottery world. I was not a college grad in ceramics, and I didn’t care – I would indeed teach myself ‘from here on’. Five years later, I found myself in my own studio in our backyard…with the name “the Keyhole Studio” painted on the door.

I was still steeped in the mother role. Happily my children would camp out in the loft of my studio while I threw-watching me be….happy. My son even invited friends for sleepover, which would be followed in the morning with the studio floor being covered with toy-soldiers that had been catapulted off the loft onto the lower trenches and among my clay trimmings. My daughter on the other hand, would read…nap in the warmth generated by the wood stove…and then read some more. My working roles evolved. From freelance interior designer to project manager at a graphic firm, to program director at a nearby arts council. It was in my bones to creatively dream of what could be meaningful ‘for me’. The question was – how? At age forty-nine, I launched my first iteration of a website. However, that is only the beginning of ‘my story’.

At age 52, I was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, which was only discovered because I had had a motorcycle accident just two months prior. Deductibles….are sometimes good things!

The following year, my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 – colon cancer.

The following year….our house burned to the ground.

We rebuilt, we lived, and we loved. Not in that order.

In February of 2017, I had my first solo exhibit in some years. It was called “Rebirth: Out of the Ashes”. Little did I know, that this title would multiple meanings. The day after my reception for this exhibit, we buried my husband’s ashes in a hand-sewn denim bag, under a cedar tree in a quaint little cemetery near our home. It was now time for me-to be ‘reborn’.

Today, I am still living in our home. Being authentic to who I am. Comfortable in my own skin. Embracing the fragility of life, I am not afraid to talk about dying. I am now adding writing, blogging, and embracing life to my list. And yes, still….living.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My artistic expression IS my life-line. I do not know where I would be today, if it weren’t for that outlet. Yet. One of the challenges of being an artist is the ‘hobby’ conversation. My husband and I had had that conversation many times. I still fight for the value of the creative voice as an arts advocate. Because of my own experiences as a creative – I realize that this country does not embrace ‘creating’ as important. Money…and….Production is. “It” doesn’t make much money. Or so some may believe.

I challenge the world to nurture creativity. I believe every profession has to utilize creative thinking to be successful. Scientists. Mathematicians. Planners. Marketers. Teachers. Drivers. Builders. Mechanics. Health Care Providers. Transportation People. Farmers. Accountants and Bankers. You name it. All paths require creative engagement – in order to be a successful career. On a totally different front—especially as these last two years have brought us face to face with mental challenges—we also need a healthy outlet for emotions we sometimes keep bottled inside. Creativity is that necessary language. It traverses and bridges. No matter the age, culture, race, religion, or gender. It is integral in our existence. I will always raise the bar for creative expression to be more openly valued.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
After I was enfolded into the clay world, I knew I would love, love, love, to do bronze sculpture. But bronze work is another completely different tool set. I knew I could work within the clay world and create my own voice, with my own tools, and still touch the integrity of bronze. I experimented with carving, by projecting plucked fresh leaves from trees outside my studio, and with a simple light I would create leaf shadows on the piece, and then carve the clay away from around the leaves. As time went on, I became more emboldened in the shape itself. Extracting more and more clay. Sculpting that more flowing movement into each piece.The Art Nouveau style I had learned about in college art history classes enriched my voice. It was feminine, flowing, organic, earthy. It felt like ‘me’. And the two influences met and merged.

Ask any potter and they will tell you glazing is another conversation—and a risk. Always. You can easily ruin a piece, just with the glazing. When I would glaze my pottery, I would feel a twinge of defamation, because the character of the carving would become masked by the glaze. Unlike a bronze, that is tactile and unmasked.

So, I decided to do a bit more experimenting and stumbled across the application of red iron oxide. Which is essentially a stain of ground iron minerals applied to a bisque piece, after it has been fired once. Applying the stain with a brush, it is set aside to dry, and then burnished with a cloth. And, repeat. I had played with other stain colors for a time, but always came back to the feeling of rich earthy stain and the magic that that application gave to a piece. The organic nature of the red iron is what I love. This. Is my signature. I want a piece to be desired, to be held, to be engaged with. Giving each piece of pottery the beauty of bloom. Like a bronze.

Because of the soulful nature of my work, I searched for an audience that resonated with the reverence and integrity I nurtured into each piece. And I found just such a clientele through cremation urns. My website “theSoulRemains.com” has been in existence since 2009.

After my husband passed, I my business had a new chapter as well. I needed to legally change my business name ‘the Keyhole Studio’ due to technicality. I searched and searched, and in the middle of the night I heard the name “Soul Work”. And so it is. Yes, my work has always been, and clearly is – Soul Work.

What am I most proud of? I have two to share.

I took me until 2017 to be able to call myself ‘an artist’ with confidence. I had followed and supported artists for decades. A local gallery had a campaign called Project Bike, in existence for four years. I always talked myself out of submitting my work for it. But finally in 2019, I changed my mind and submitted to be a part of Project Bike’s fifth and final season. I would regret it if I didn’t at least try and apply for the juried show. Project Bike which was a traveling unique in that it included art studio visits and transporting artists’ work behind a bicycle with a pull-behind trailer. The art landed at the 410, in downtown Mankato, with an exhibit from the participating artists on display. This was their 5th and final annual ride which included pedaling 350 miles from Two Harbors to Mankato. Dana Sikkila and Kyle Zieszler rode to nine different art studios. The outcome was not only an exhibit, but blossomed into a thirty-five minute documentary and in 2020, a cumulative display in the Thomson Reuters gallery at the MSP International Airport. The gem that was birthed (thus far) was in October of this year, 2021, Dana, as film director, submitted an almost two hour documentary about Project Bike and its evolution along with ‘her story’ as part of the Twin Cities Film Fest. I am so grateful.

As a young mother, I would bring my son and daughter into the Fine Arts Building at the Minnesota State Fair, to see all of the beauty and creativity that was on exhibit that year. I felt it was such an accomplishment to have one’s work included in the show. I did this for four decades. This year, I made my fourth attempt at being a part of the Fine Arts Exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair. “Wings of Wisdom” was my submission, a tall vessel wrapped in carvings of feathers from multiple birds of sacred standing, from eagle, to raven. And this year, again, my daughter was with me, to see all of the work on exhibit, but this time, we also saw my work on exhibit – at the Minnesota State Fair.

What sets me apart from others? Creative expression comes in many forms, and I am a firm believer that we can have more than one voice.

Case in point. When I was seven years old, my grandmother gave me a box of books as a gift. I didn’t get it at the time, but I do now.

I have gone from being a voracious reader to actual journal writing, and back again. Sometimes my own writings are more like ‘conversations’, with those who have crossed over, or with spirit guides, as I call them. Other times they are deep reflections, in blog format—forever encapsulated on my site TheSoulRemains.

One more recent experience brought me to a different ‘voice’ in my life as an artist.

It started with a conversation I had with my ‘crossed over’ husband. (I use the word crossed over because he is not ‘gone’ to me.) We were expecting our second grandchild. It was late July. My husband had passed in April. And our soon-to-arrive grandson was approaching delivery day in early August. I wanted to know what our grandson should know about ‘grandpa’. So I asked. And I received a reply. It was only a five minute dialogue, but in essence it changed my life forever. I had transcribed the most intimate, beautiful love letter/message a person could ever give to someone from the other side of life. And as it was to be, two years later, that conversation evolved into a book with a message that is paramount to so many who are grieving.

“Dear One A Message of Love, about Grief, Loss, and the Art of Healing” was published this year, 2021. All of it was a gift of love that was born out of this one conversation. The imagery I captured is a testament to the love I have for nature, and my previous experience working in design proved life comes full-circle. For I was able to do all of the design myself. The message, or conversation if you will, is one that any loved one who has passed would want their dear ones to hear. It truly is a message of love—of the most sacred kind.

Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
Rebirth: Out of the Ashes
Project Bike “The Back Story”
Project Bike 2019 (I’m in It)
Project Bike at MSP Int’l Airport – Here we go!
Dear One: A Message of Love, about Grief, Loss, and the Art of Healing
MN State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition 2021_Pg 114

Since the passing of my husband, my work has come full circle. I, now, am the one who has experienced death from a different level. It’s personal. Because of this journey, and because of the turmoil in this country, I have immersed myself in books that speak truths we do not feel comfortable talking about. Death. Race. Inequity.

Here are some movies that have moved me: Sea of Trees, Big Fish and Begonia, Victor’s Last Class, Departures, Tuesdays with Morrie.

Here are some books that have taught me: Neither Wolf nor Dog trilogy by Kent Nerburn | Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer | Ishmael by Daniel Quinn | Being Mortal by Atul Gawande | The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch | Said the Old Widow to the New by Ronda Redmond | When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi | Finding the Wild Inside by Marilyn Kay Hagar | Final Gifts: Understanding the Special Awareness, Needs, and Communications of the Dying by Maggie Callanan and Patricia Kelley | The Fog of Grief in AEON by April Reese | Unobstructed Universe by Stewart Edward White

Pricing:

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://thesoulremains.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesoulremains/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesoulremains