Kristy Askins Hoover

---

Kristy (Askins) Hoover is an award-winning multimedia artist living in Watertown, New York. She received both her BFA (2015) and her MA (2019) in Studio Art at SUNY Oswego, where she has taught at SUNY Oswego's College of Media and The Arts since 2020.  Kristy serves  as co-manager and gallery curator of Orion Art Gallery and Studio, where she acts as Manager for the Ceramic Studio as well as instructor for a variety of Fine Arts classes for youth, adults and seniors. 

Kristy supports Jefferson Community College as an adjunct instructor in the arts when needed. She continues to share her love of the arts by volunteering for various other organizations, including seving as board member of Snowtown USA, while continuing to create her own 2 and 3-dimensional works. Kristy's purpose and vision as an artist and creator are to be a voice for social justice and personal affliction. Kristy  was Orion Art Gallery & Studio's Featured Artist this past November,  with her exhibit titled "Useless Vessels" which featured many of her raku fired ceramics, her latest works in clay,  and two-dimensional painting.  

Artist Statement:

"As an artist, I believe it is my duty to use my voice, to not only connect with the viewers on an emotional level, but to also give a voice to others through my works. I feel my voice should be utilized to uplift those who have been through more than most. And that's where "Useless Vessels" makes sense. I usually create ceramics with fluidity and ease and expect only a return on the time and effort put into each piece. The work that I created for this feature exhibition is different; the process was much more intensive, communicating a message about the survival of each piece. The ceramics are thrown on the wheel, layered with Terra Sigillata, burnished, then kiln fired. Some are wrapped in additional clay or treated with substances before being placed into a fire pit. Others go in bare. I build and feed the fire slowly until the vessels glow orange. Some crack. Some explode. But some survive. The bare pieces are then pulled from the glowing pit, treated with horsehair and other materials that burn into and scar the clay body. The wrapped vessels are put directly into a container of combustibles, then sealed. Before cooling they, they are all submerged into water, creating an extreme thermal shock. The ones who make it through are the strongest. These are the survivors; the ones that made it through the worst of times. They are the most valuable, the most resilient. So why, as a society, do we so often overlook the value of those who have survived the harshest conditions? "