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Krysta wears the House Top and Wrap Skirt.
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How important in sense of place to your work? To yourself?
For me, it’s pretty important- both in an interior and geographical sense. I feel settled in our house and studio now but historically I’ve always sought out special spaces. Not fancy but welcoming light, texture, thoughtful landscaping. It’s been a type of fuel for me. I produce more work when I feel I’m in the right place. And, because I tend to care about space, I make work that’s meant to enhance your daily experience.
There’s a tinge of a southwest narrative in my work but it’s not necessarily on purpose. It is because I am. I was born in Albuquerque and moved to Tucson when I was 9. Currently, I live about 20 minutes north of Santa Fe and the studio is based in town. I think the sense of the southwest is an undercurrent of my work and feeling settled is allowing me to make more work and dig deeper into it.
What is the intersection of utility and magic in your work?
This is why I love to work in ceramics. There’s a balance of magic and utility in the process and the finished piece.
When I think of what I am making, it has to bring a little magic to your daily life—your morning coffee, your huge hearty salad, your dinner table, your flower arrangement. What’s the point if it doesn’t? Also has to be a functional piece otherwise it’s just frustrating to use.
Tell us about the blue.
I’m not sure it will be like this forever or if I am in a phase that I grow out of. But, what I can say is, I’ve been using it for the last three years and I still feel some holy kind of chakra thing happening when I pull out a full kiln load of pieces in this glaze/clay combo.
There’s a steady flow of mugs and bowls coming out of the studio usually. But every once and a while I find a reason to deck out a table in various blue shapes and add another kind of seasonal element. For example, over Mothers Day weekend I worked with my studiomate who's a florist (Heyyy @oldiesflowerco ). We made blue vases with all yellow bouquets. It felt wonderful to walk into that room as an installation and see it disappear as customers bought vases over the weekend. There’s a nice consistency about working in a single color and a chance to explore it deeply.
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Krysta wears the Marlowe Shirt and Utility Short.
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How do you want to feel in your clothes?
I want to feel like I can work and move and still feel chic.
How does that inform your personal style?
My style works within the boundaries of what I do, which is usually a little messy and active.
When I’m home I spend most of the time gardening, doing yard work, cleaning and cooking. When I am at work I get full of clay in the studio and I am usually coming or going from running, skiing or sweaty yoga classes. I do a couple quick changes and showers during the day but my hair is air dried and little to zero makeup. I wear jewelry that I never take off. My scent is sunscreen. I focus on clothes that fit well. A good textured t-shirt or bodysuit (it’s helpful my husband re-sells vintage), jeans. A great pair of sunglasses is usually enough to make me feel complete.
What brings you joy in the present? What are you dreaming about for the future?
This is the first year we’ve been living with an acequia on our property and it’s been filling my cup big time this spring and summer. Acequias might not be a familiar word for folks who haven’t spent a lot of time in Northern New Mexico. It’s basically a creek that flows through your property which you can use to irrigate if you have water rights. It’s a gravity fed system. The headgate starts higher up in the mountain and gets turned on in the spring. It flows down through a series of yards and farms. In order to have a working acequia, you need to coordinate with your neighbors and clean it out. If one person’s ditch needs to be redug, no one below them will get water.
This year my husband and I helped to clean and maintain the 3 separate acequias in our neighborhood. We walked along all of them with our neighbors and we dug and dug and dug. When we turned on the headgate, we watched the water flow steadily through each yard and it was extremely joyous and celebratory.
Since then, my daughter and I have been digging ditches in our yard to channel water into a garden. It’s a lot like making little rivers in the sand at the beach. It’s very malleable and fun to work with gravity to get it to flow just where you want it to. I love thinking about what one could do with acequias in landscape design and while also participating in a strong cultural and community oriented tradition.
I’ve been so inspired by participating in it, I know it will be a part of my future and maybe creative practice but I’m not sure in which way yet.
Follow Krysta on IG here and shop her ceramics here. Photos by Emmanuelle Yang.
Shop Krysta's OZMA selects here.
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