There’s a purity to looking at things on a a wall. You just look.

Clay as a medium is often associated with functionality and utilitarianism, but I make clay works to just look at and live with on a wall. They can be described as dimensional paintings, painterly sculptures, ceramic wall sculptures — I call them ceramic wall art, and they intend to evoke life, spirit, energy, beauty, moments and pauses of thought.

I gravitate towards abstraction for universal reach and reduction for clarity. Works are made using basic ceramic processes and techniques, from rolled out slabs of light colored earthenware clay, fired in an electric kiln and finished with kaolin terrasigillata, slips, and commercial glazes.

To maintain a cultural identifier in my name, I took on a lengthy hyphenated surname after marrying fantastic artist husband Zilvinas Kempinas, and sign works with a happy string of initials, AOK. When they were younger, I took a hiatus to raise two sons, (children and clay are uncannily similar - both are intensely time sensitive, require focused commitment, attention, and care, are moldable but only to a certain extent), I currently work in our studio in Long Island City, Queens, NY.

I have a BA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia College, Columbia University, a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and an MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York. I spent a year in Japan on a Fulbright exploring the world of Japanese ceramics while focusing on the avant-garde ceramic group, Sōdeisha, and its founder, Yagi Kazuo.