Hello!

My name is Kirsten Schiel, I am the artist behind Sils Ceramics. My little studio is located in my home town of Salt Lake City, which is wonderfully close to mountains and various desert landscapes that inspire most of the forms, colors, and designs in my work. 

I stumbled into a ceramics class serendipitously in high school. The versatility of clay completely captivated me. I felt mesmerized by all the ways I could shape, build, and design with a material as primitive as sediment and water. 

I followed this curiosity to Utah State University, where I was surrounded by aspirations to manipulate the form of clay in any way imaginable. However, it was not until after I left collegiate ceramics, that I realized how much I love clay the way it humbly wants to be. I love the finger prints, the rough texture, the slight imperfections that tell the story of a maker’s presence. 

In a world harmed by mass production, this is what society is missing: genuine physical connection, objects that have story as well as use. Ceramic art radically offers a tangible connection between two people, in a world where technology unintentionally pushes us apart. I love being apart of that mission, and I hope you will too! 

If you would like to receive monthly love letters and build an online community on the ins and outs, beauty and brutality, methods and intuitions, structures and spontaneities of creative living, the Sils Substack may be the place for you! Unlike the website newsletter that only goes out to announce shop updates, the Substack is a place to cultivate reflection and inspiration.

(And it comes with gifts for subscribers!)