Kyle Reynolds is an emerging Seattle sculptor whose work explores extreme societal shifts, power struggles, and the fraught relationship between humanity and the natural world. Her hand built ceramic forms, often intricate and surreal, conjure the aesthetic and allegory of contemporary fable. Found objects and mixed media lend elements of tension, contrast or familiarity. Her work has won awards, been featured in galleries, exhibitions and arts festivals around the Pacific Northwest, and acquired in private collections.
She is a member of the Washington Clay Arts Association, the Pacific Northwest Sculptors Group, and was selected for the 2025-2029 Washington State Arts Commission Public Arts Roster.
Backstory
I was running a refugee arts nonprofit when a generous ceramics artist gifted her entire studio’s worth of tools, equipment and over 300 pounds of clay to the cause. The year was 2018, and despite a lifelong love of art, I had no experience with clay. I was fortunate to be invited by a local group of Native American elders to lead some art workshops. Together we learned to make ceramic beads and charms, firing the works in our donated kiln and bestowing the necklaces we made to tribal veterans as tokens of appreciation. Manifesting actual physical objects of great meaning from lumps of earth sparked a love of the material and art form that has grown in intensity every day since.
My science background colors my experimental techniques. I often finish works with diluted oxides and underglazes before low-firing, then add many thin layers of watercolor, gouache, or powdered pigment mixed with a binding agent. The non-vitrified ceramic surface wicks the colors inside, building them up layer by layer to provide a soft, dreamy effect. This finish, in combination with a surrealist style and often heavy subject matter results in a Grimm's Fairytales or Aesop's Fables aesthetic; stories that played a prominent role in my childhood and became the language through which I tend to process difficult topics.
