This is Bobbi’s friend. I love these new pieces, the pictures I take do not do them justice. Please give Bobbi a call for prices and size. You are always welcome to come out and see anything in person.
2017 New Fall Pottery
This gallery contains 25 photos.
Measuring 10″ tall 10 1/2″ wide, this piece has neutral colors on the outside and turquoise inside. 2. This pot measures 8″ wide and 9 1/2″ across. 3. Notice the mismatched round handles to create interest. Measures 20 1/2″tall and … Continue reading
New 2016 Just in time for Christmas
This gallery contains 14 photos.
This stunning piece of art is 15″ tall and 6″ across the base. The copper wire and handcrafted beads will have a beautiful patina overtime. $135 Continue reading
Welcome to my gallery, The Pot Pantry!
Located 90 miles south of Kansas City on 69 highway sits a stone house built in 1865. It was first used as an office to load fresh fruit which was then hauled to town. Later it was used to house workers at the colonial motel. For awhile it was used for junk storage. Now it is a magical place for me to create & show my clay work. The first time I touched the clay I immediately saw a big pantry filled with pots made by me. So I named my space The Pot Pantry. Each time I enter the stone house, I feel the presence of those that built it. I thank them for building this rock house strong enough to withstand the test of time. I have a wheel & can throw pots. Perfectly round pots bore me & I prefer to hand build my pieces. That makes each piece one of a kind & totally my design. I created mugs for our local cancer group personalized with names of loved ones either fighting the cancer battle or in memory of a loved one that has died. I work with 4-H kids on their fair projects, many of whom have taken their clay masterpiece to the state level. Workshops are offered, art fairs are attended, competitions are entered & won, the clay is my world. Please visit my photo gallery for more of my work. All work shown is for sale. That changes daily & some pieces might not be available.
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
All glazes are lead free.
New Friend
Wed, Aug 26 at 1:31 PM
Good Morning To The Friends I Cannot See,
Confidence—the difference between good and great. Ponder on that for a little bit my friends. On Saturday my phone dinged with a text. It said “I found this pot in a consignment store. Is it yours and then a pic appeared of the pot” I knew immediately it was mine. I responded “yes, that is my work and who is this? Answer Tom in Dallas. I answered Tom in Dallas and told him it was gas fired to cone 10. He asked what cone 10 meant. I said please call me and I will explain the process. He did—I did. He said he found my phone number on my facebook page. I related the story of the lady that filled her shop in Ft Worth Texas with my work, how I did a meet the artist one week end, I told of the lady that bought that pot and how she called her husband to measure the space to make sure the pot would fit. I remember it like it was yesterday. It has been at least 15 years ago. I did not date that pot (for reasons unknown to me now) but had signed my name and ft. scott, ks. on the bottom. I told Tom I made things out of clay, I was not an accomplished potter. How I admired those that could make perfect pots each time. He responded “I think your work is amazing and I am so glad I found this piece of pottery. I am building a house in NM and your work will be the focal point of my new house” Our conversation continued for awhile, I sent him more pictures of work in my gallery, he continued to give me compliments. Sincere compliments. And the sentence that I started this blog with. We never know how we might impact the lives of others. What words can change another person in a positive way. I see myself as someone who likes to play in the clay—Tom saw my work as great. What a gift he gave me.
Did I mention that Tom is a teacher? Not of clay but he appreciates art. I was blessed to have met him even if it was over the phone. I am blessed that my work is traveling from state to state. I truly am blessed that Sammie came into my life those many years ago and wouldn’t let me quit. Thank You—–
Until we visit again
Stay Centered
bobbi Kemna
potter
Getting Centered
good morning to the friends I cannot see,
No caps today. I see my last blog was dec 31. This is june. Where is my life. Where are my peeps. I spent 2 months of the winter in a sunny, warm place. Paradise!!! Came home and was hit with this virus crap. Sorry, but that is the only word I can think of to use for it. Now I am a social person, I play well by myself, but must have the outside world to make my life complete. Finally, sat with my friends to eat out in pulblic, sat at the pub and listened to a great band, talked on the phone to someone who cares, yesterday was a great day. Yes, I am careful but not scared.
I know this blog is usually about my clay world. What clay world I ask? I woke up on Tues and said out loud to myself (cause there is no one else to talk to here) SELF (opps there are some caps) today feels like a wheel day. Now you all know that I don’t partially like the wheel. But the clay ghosts were sitting behind me and actually some nice pieces were created. 3 sweet mugs with my take on making handles for them. Sweet I say. It was a nice week in my magical rock house with my hands in the mud. I will continue that next week. Does that mean I am emerging from the funk of the winter and getting on with life? I believe it does!!!!!
Now for the downside of this blog. After much thought, tears, stubbornness , denial, defiance, my don’t tell me what to do attitude, I made the hard decision to not have my Art in the Yard event in sept. Not because I am afraid but because this event was for the talented vendors and the public to enjoy. The vendors that have had my back for any crazy thing I think up to do all these years of course would come. The locals are letting me know they also would be here. However my gut said “bobbi, this is not the year to do this”. I am listening to my inter self and will not host that event this year. Please understand and start planning for next year. My clay work is still available for sale in the rock house. I hope you will consider me when looking for that special gift this holiday season. I need your support and your encouragement.
Until we meet again
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
Looking Forward 2020!!
Good Morning to the friends I cannot see,
Holy Cow, today is the last day of the year 2019. My head spins on how quickly this year flew by. Remember 2000 when the world was to end and some people tried to prepare for it. I bought a frig magnet, I thought that was enough. Oh, and to ask forgiveness for those that I may have offended in some way. It has been a year of healing for me. And many new adventures. Oh, so many new adventures. The second year of Art in the Yard doubled in size. I was overwhelmed by the response to help in any way. It will happen this Sept 12th again in my yard. Dream big my friends and your dream will come true. Mine certainly did. People bought my pottery, I say thank you to them for liking what I do. I won awards, made new friends, went on trips, just enjoyed life to the fullest. H.K. continues to watch over me, warning of danger when necessary. His love was unconditional. I thank God daily for putting him in my life.
So my blog followers, Please continue to follow me, encourage me, perhaps offer a hug, and maybe I will create a pot than you cannot stand to be without. Buy it—I will continue to create as long as possible. The touch of the clay keeps me centered, gives me a reason to enter the magical rock house, gives me You. I wish God’s blessings for you all in this new year. May 2020 best the best ever for you.
Till we visit again=====Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
A Little News About “Art in the Yard 2019”
Good Morning to the friends I cannot see,
Wow, how can it be mid October 2019 already. Seems like I just saw in this year only last week. So much going on in the clay world for me. I told you about the St. Martin young boys and their adventure with the clay. What a blessing they were/are to me. Then my time was spent planning the 2 annual Art in the Yard festival. Again, WOW, that was a trip let me tell you. So much bigger this year than last year. 40 vendors—6 food vendors–famous kettle corn and roasted nuts–and our famous local packaged,ground coffee. This festival rocked my world. Our tourism dept, county dept, college group of young men, trolley, so many local people calling to say “how may we help you”. even Rick who mowes my yard (per my children’s request cause they got tired of hearing me gripe about mowing” said Bobbi I am mowing extra and weed eating at no charge so I can be a part of the festival. I want your yard to look perfect. Ahhhhh, how special is that. Seriously, I was moved to tears at the support extended to this event. Anyway, it was a huge success, attended by hundreds and hundreds of people, the vendors sold work, some sold out, everyone packed up at the end of the day very tired but with a happy smile on their face. We added a VIP night on Friday with food on my orange porch and music in my house. That also was well attended. Of course my children came to help me. When the question was asked if I was going to do it again next year my children response was “we will divorce her if she does” The vendors voted yes at our meeting, I voted No with both hands in the air, I LOST. We will host it here one more year. I hope to find someone to take it over and keep it going—feel free to contact me if you have an interest in doing this. It truly is good for our town, our local economy, and it made people happy to come out here and walk around. Best part—I saw no one talking on their phones, texting—-they sat on benches, chairs, rugs, porch steps and talked to one another. It used to be called socializing. Time to get back to basics folks, which was one of my goals in starting this festival. I could talk forever about this but will just say Thank You to all who had a part of making it successful. Sept 12 2020 put it on your calendar and join us next year so you can be a part of it also. It is an ART festival. We added more for the young people to do like weaving, painting, quilting—hands on at no charge. 2 young people came up to me and said ” Miss Bobbi, how can I get in your festival” I said “do you do art” They unfolded their paper to show me their drawings. Quite good I must say. So I said “will you come next year and have more art to show?” Yes they said. So I told them I would set up a special place for Emerging Artists, and they and others their age could show their work. The story goes on but I will continue another day. For Now
STAY CENTERED TILL WE VISIT AGAIN
bobbi kemna
potter
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Good Morning To The Friends I Cannot See,
As I ponder over todays blog I am thinking, do I tell it as it is or do I put a spin on it to make it more appealing. Guess this is one of my more thinking days. Well as you all know I hardly ever think it over too much, no matter what the task at hand is at the moment. I didn’t really have a completely full load of glaze work to fire this week end. But enough that I wanted to get it done. A couple of pieces promised to others that I wanted to finish and give. So I spent a day and a half glazing (which is my utmost unpleasant thing to do) and loaded the kiln. Note: my kiln is having minor issues, only will fire to a strong cone 5 then reads FTH. I looked that up in the manual, it says the kiln is not heating to the programed setting. OK, well perhaps if I do a 15 minute hold.? That might give me a cone 6. Didn’t happen, however most glazes say fire to cone 4-6. So 5 works right? Makes sense to me!!!!! Cut to the chase here Bobbi, the top shelf of pots looked pretty good. Meaning they were pretty and good. I was smiling. The second shelf was one of those uh huh moments when I said “dang” no high five on this. The bottom shelf was a strong “dang it” which was stronger language than the second shelf. The worst part of this whole firing was I knew better and did it anyway. Like copper wire that melted off the piece and now is firmly stuck to the shelf. This is the whole lesson of todays blog. I did give the pieces to those waiting for them. In my mind they were horrible and I should have buried them in the flower garden. In the eyes of those that received them, they were beautiful. Who of us is to say what is beautiful. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I definitely will remake those two pieces and make them beautiful to me. Will they be received with gratefulness or will they say “what’s bobbi’s problem. I liked the first one better” But I must make arrangements with someone smarter than me that can read a manual and reprogram my kiln before I fire another load.
Until we meet again
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
On the go!
Good morning to the friends I cannot see,
My Dad said that time would go faster as I got older. I was 16 and thought he did not possibly know as much as I did. Guess what—he was a wise man. I woke up this morning and realized that Sept isn’t that far off. Art in the Yard is looming on the horizon and I had better start getting ready for the event. My mind has now turned back on from being in hibernation for 3 months and I am so excited to find new artists to fill my 4 acres of green space. Actually have several ideas to make this event one to remember. No craft stuff, only hand crafted art. And music, food, but most of all FUN. Dance in the driveway, smile with BBQ sauce on your face, listen to the water fountain as you stroll around, oh yes and the bagpipes are returning, seriously, please put Sept 14th on you calendar so you don’t miss it.
St Martin Acadamy young men spent time in the magical rock house this fall and created masterpieces. Of course, I invited them to eat and boy, they do know how to eat. Cooking for 20 hungry boys made me happy. They are so considerate, funny, and have manners. So thank you St Martin’s for sharing them with me.
Thrusday is a special day—yes it’s valentine day. HK always brought me balloons and hid them all over the house just watching to see which one I found first. One year the balloon was tied to a huge basket and covered over half of the room. I wanted to climb in that basket and take a trip to the skies. So friends I cannot see—Embrace those that you love and that love you. Give an extra long hug, say I LOVE YOU, watch the sun set, have a picnic in the back yard. Buy your special person a balloon. It always made me so happy.
And yes, I have 2 kiln loads of pots to fire and glaze. And some broken tree limbs from the ice storm last week to pick up. Guess I better get busy. So until we meet again—————-
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
THE BAD NEWS & THE GOOD NEWS
Good Morning to the friends I cannot see,
Bad news–good news. Today I had tickets to the dinner theater in KC. Horrid weather so I can’t go. Bad news. That gives me a chance to catch you up on events at the rock house. Good news. What a year this has been. Lots of activity in my life. The Art in the Yard event was a huge success. Hundreds of people filled my yard. Those that could not come are now personally letting me know that they will not miss it next year. Wait–I thought this was a one time event. NOT I guess. Larry, our tourism director, has already put it on his calendar for Sept 14, 2019. So I agreed to do the event one more time and then pass the baton to someone else. I will/am on the look out for more talented people to join us in Sept. Remember the group of boys from St Martins Academy that performed with the bagpipes? They are coming to the rock house this week to try their hand in clay. My way of saying thank you to them for sharing in my event. Everyone loved the bagpipes, the orchestra, and all the other stuff they saw here.
Also remember I mentioned I had no more shows to do until next April. Well that didn’t hold water either, I was asked to put together a pop up art event at our local brewery this week. I did—-both the home craft beer and the art was well received . Then I was asked to participate in an event in Pittsburg next Sat. and could I find more artists for that. Of course, I said. So off I go next week to show my pottery to a whole new group of people.
Staying at the brewery all day Fri. and Sat. gave me an opportunity to meet a whole lot of people I did not know. Visiting with BE has opened a window for sharing my clay with another new group of people. I love life. It is exciting to me to see what each new day brings.
So I guess the message today is—get off of the sofa, get out of your box, embrace new adventures, be happy.
Till we visit again
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
August 6, 2018
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Happy summer!
Good Morning To The Friends I Cannot See,
I absolutely LOVE the summertime. I love the hot weather, the sun on my skin, the long daylight days, the chance to work till 10pm outside before coming in the house, the meals sitting on the porch, I love the whole thing about summer. Having said that, you need to know that I have been busy staying in the magical rock house working on new work until dark. The kiln is firing as I write this—-2nd firing in 3 days. I met a lady from KC (thanks to Laura) that shared with me how to patina copper. I tried it yesterday (well the process took 2 days) and was amazed when the copper/tin actually started to turn blueish. I made some clay crosses and attached them to the tin. I am so excited about these. I did post some pics on facebook (again thanks to my children who try to keep me tech savy somewhat) and it appears that many of you saw these pic and commented on them. Thanks for that. More good news—I am hosting a meeting today for the vendors that have agreed to join me for “the best art festival in the world” (that title was suggested by chef Tim last night) which will take place on Sept 15th. My vision when buying this property was to fill the whole 4 acres of green space (well probably 3 acres since bldgs take up some of that space) with artists. People coming together to have a good time &sharing their vision of art.
So if you are an artist and want to be a part of this, contact me for details. Please save this date in your phone notes, calendar, or little black book and join us Sept 15th. There will be music on my orange porch, BBQ from a guy in KC (friend of Ruth and Larry) dancing in the driveway if that floats your boat, and FUN. I was up at 7 baking chocolate chip cookies for my guests coming in a little while. I will come back to visit soon. In the meantime—please plan to come to ft. scott, ks on sept 15th. Oh, maybe smores after dark?????? So excited about this event. I even agreed to paint my toenails bright yellow with bright neon dots. I giggle each time I look down and see bright yellow.
Till we meet again——————
Stay Centered
bobbi kemna
potter
BOBBI KEMNA POTTERY 