Today we’d like to introduce you to Read Karsell.
Hi Read, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
My name is Read Karsell and I am from Rochester, Minnesota. During the day, I am a middle school Spanish teacher with a Minnesota K-12 license and after school, I am a potter by the name of RK Delta Pottery.
I graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota with a bachelor’s in Spanish and Education, and minors in Linguistics and Latin American Studies. Education is something that has always interested me. My first job was teaching swimming lessons when I was in 7th grade. I continued on, teaching theater camps and then was a room lead at a summer child care program. By the time I left high school, I’d had many amazing teachers who all inspired me to be an educator, so I double majored in Education and Spanish. All these experiences came together to help me be a well-rounded Spanish educator.
I started pottery at John Marshal High School in Rochester when I took the most popular class offered – ceramics. I remember I missed one of the first days of class which also happened to be the day my teacher introduced wheel throwing. I jumped right in the next day, when I returned, so I wouldn’t miss another minute. I had seen videos of people throwing and it looked so cool, (and, no lies, easy) but if you’ve ever thrown (spun and shaped clay on a wheel), you know it is anything BUT easy.
As I sat down for my first attempt, my friends and Mrs. Connolly gave me quick instructions, but throwing is also a feeling and something you have to learn by trying. After some work, I ended up with a cute, short-walled bowl no wider than 2 inches and maybe1 inch tall. I know now that I barely made something. I basically opened the lump of clay (made a well in the lump) to be wide enough that it would resemble a functional item – BUT LET ME TELL YOU. In that moment, I had done the impossible. My friends were so mad. I hadn’t even seen the demonstration, yet successfully made a piece while they were still trying to center their clay.
I enjoyed my experience in high school enough that in college, I knew I had to continue. I’d only touched the surface in high school and to continue in college would afford me the opportunity to really hone my skills and gain a lot of technical knowledge too. St. Olaf only offers two, semester-long classes in ceramics, so I took one my first year and the other my second. I studied under Professor Paul Briggs who pushed me to make mistakes and work outside the perfect. I was so proud of my skills at that point that I slowly realized I wasn’t moving past what I knew. I was staying in what was comfortable. I believe I will need to work on pushing myself forever; under Professor Briggs’ instruction, I began creating new shapes, slowing down, and being more intentional or completely unintentional with design. I began halving completed pieces to see the thickness of the walls – a way to see how well they were made . I began carving pieces instead of leaving them as they were when they left the wheel. I also started to challenge gravity and explore non-functional pieces.
During this time, I was gifted a potter’s wheel and was able to practice at home over the summers and in the years to follow. I also began to slowly build my business. I hosted sales at our house for close friends and family. I made an Etsy and created a logo for myself. I built all of this over multiple years and worked knowing I was in no rush. It wasn’t something I was relying on as a primary source of income income, and any work I put in was only helping me in the long run.
This summer (of 2022) was when I decided to get a little more serious. I am now fully free in life – I graduated college and am living on my own. I completed student teaching and have held a full-time teaching job. I’ve reached a time in life when there is no longer a clear or expected path of what I should do.
So, I decided I would spend the summer building more of RK Delta Pottery. I bought a website and spent a month crafting it into a very fine space if do say so myself. I planned the release ahead of time so that there would be some excitement for my followers and to try to reach a wider range of potential visitors. Pottery isn’t a service one must continue returning for, it’s a product that I build to last a lifetime. So it leaves me with the question: why should someone come back for more and how can I convince them that it’s worth coming back for more? Once I mapped out my answers, I started a mini-campaign and released my website about a month after purchasing it!
Along with building the website and advertising, I registered my business with the state of Minnesota and found it to be pretty easy – Minnesota provides many supports for new businesses! It was so easy that it took me a second to realize I had taken major steps in solidifying my business’s future!
The final part of my summer journey was selling at the Queer Art Market in Rochester which was hosted by Out Rochester and Art Heads Emporium. It was my first market and the venue’s first time hosting an event like this. I created a lot of pieces that appealed specifically to a more LGBTQIA+ crowd, which was a fun change from my normal creating and it allowed me to further connect with my fellow queer community members. The market was really a lovely culmination of everything I had worked towards. Additionally, I got to meet other queer artists (I am gay) and was able to make many new connections! My favorite part of the event was being asked by attendees why they had never seen me before. It affirmed for me that my pottery was interesting to others as well as good enough that they felt they had been missing out on my art.. It was really great!
And now you’re all caught up. I am a passionate person in all areas of my life. I am an educator who gets to connect with students every day and grow the next generation of amazing people. I get to be a leader to my students and my community. And, I get to be an artist and do another thing I love – create and share my artistic passion with others. In every order I package, I try to write a note that always includes, “I hope you love this piece as much as I loved making it.” I really mean that. Pottery has been such a fun venue to create, learn, and grow, and RK Delta Pottery lets me share that joy with the world.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a pretty smooth road overall while working on my business. I am in no rush, so I tackle things when I know I have the time and ability to do so. Generally speaking, where I struggle is working in education and finding the time to do other things such as my pottery. I put a lot of time into lesson planning and other school-related things, so having time to sit down, make a muddy mess, and then get it all cleaned up isn’t suitable for most weeknights. I usually have to devote a weekend to pottery which can be hard to do with other weekend options that are always around.
I also don’t have a storefront, so business growth is solely online which I’ve seen a lot of the ceramic community struggling with. Recently, multiple experienced and well-known potters announced they would be quitting pottery because they feel their work is becoming more focused on content creation to get their name out there INSTEAD of spending time working to explore their art. I definitely struggle to create content and post consistently; Instagram has moved to focus on videos in an attempt to compete with TikTok. As a result, I see my posts getting less attention since I am not creating reels and that’s made it a little harder to grow my online presence. Where I found success in spreading my name is by word of mouth or at art fairs/markets. I am hoping to do events more often but finding markets has been a learning experience and building inventory in anticipation is also difficult currently.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What do I do: I am a ceramic artist. I mainly throw on the wheel. Currently, I make more functional pieces and often find myself not leaving the natural – my pieces are clean, smooth shapes and, when altered (changed from the shape they were when they left the wheel), my pieces don’t stray too far from still appearing to be ceramic. Similarly, my preferred glazes are more earthy colors. I love to make large bowls – serving dish/fruit bowl size. I also love making tree mugs, which are wood bark textured mugs that are perfect for a cabin! I don’t hold a degree in ceramics, so I am interested in exploring the art and continuously learning as I go. I am very much a lifelong learner.
What am I known for and specialty: I would say I am known for the tree mugs and the large bowls. Wheel throwing is where I feel most successful so in terms of specialty, wheel throwing would be where I specialize in pottery.
Most proud of: I have a hard time using emotion and life experience to inspire my art. I think what I hold closest for inspiration is nature. Because of that, my tree mugs really are my favorite. They are my crowning achievement so far and the piece I pull out to show people when they ask to see something I’ve made. Maybe because they achieve my chase to create a tree by hand, something I’ve attempted in sketches many, many times since middle school. And I think these mugs achieve that bark texture to the degree that I breathe a sigh of pride when looking at them.
What makes me different: I am an artist, so my work is different from anyone else’s. I do think that I have a strong artistic integrity. Meaning what I produce and sell is what I am proud of and what I would want to buy. I am highly critical of each piece and don’t allow small imperfections if I can control it – there is little compromise while I am creating. I also don’t work on pieces that don’t interest me or make something simply because I know it will do well. While I think every artist has that, for me that meets my need for a goal and connection to my work. Without that, I can’t focus and lose the momentum to finish.
What sets me apart from others is who I am as a whole. I am a kind and caring person with many passions and interests including education, language, leadership, and pottery.
Alright, so to wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to share with us?
Please check out my work and subscribe to the newsletter on my website along with my socials!
I am so excited to share my art and story with the community! I hope you all enjoyed learning a little bit about me and maybe get to enjoy a piece I’ve made! I have a wide variety of pieces out there and I am always making more, so bookmark my page to check back in every now and then! Thank you and see you around!– Read Karsell / RK Delta Pottery
Pricing:
- Cups and mugs range from $10-$40
- Large bowls generally range from $45-$70
- Other pieces aren’t usually more than $45
Contact Info:
- Website: www.rkdeltapottery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rkdeltapottery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rkdeltapottery/
