Artist Spotlight Series: Ava Ceramics BK

January 24, 2022

Artist Spotlight Series: Ava Ceramics BK

Art, Artist

By HollyPhillips

Artist Spotlight Series, Ava Ceramics BK, Ava Kapetanekis, Brooklyn Artist, Ceramic Artist

I am thrilled to share a young talent who got her start in Charlotte.

She is such a bright creative with a huge future ahead of her.

Enjoy getting to know

Ava Kapetanakis of Ava Ceramics BK

Brooklyn, New York

What is your training?

I started doing ceramics at the age of 15 in high school. My teacher started with the hand building portion of the curriculum and I absolutely hated it. He saw how much I was struggling and decided to put me on the wheel and ever since then I haven’t stopped. I excelled in the class and would skip all my other electives to be in ceramics.

What inspires you and your designs?

I’m inspired by 70’s and 80’s design. I source a lot of inspiration from vintage upholstered furniture, music, movie wardrobe, costume design and clothing patterns from that time. I have a series called “Shagadelic” and it’s heavily inspired by Austin Powers.

What is your favorite piece?

It’s definitely between these two pieces, The first piece is the largest planter I’ve ever thrown measuring at 12” H x 13” D. I was listening to a lot of Roy Ayers at the time I was making it and I wanted to translate that shag rug and wood panel feeling onto my ceramics by using warm colors.

The second piece I made while I was doing a residency at Skop Art on Skopelos Island in Greece. Obviously the colors were inspired by my time in Greece but the shape was inspired by the many many stairs I had to climb to get to the studio everyday.

How has the your area influenced your work?

Brooklyn has a lot of funky colors and patterns everywhere! It’s so refreshing to see that we’re moving away from white and beige.

What is your favorite restaurant in Brooklyn / NYC?

My favorite fast food would be Xi’an Famous foods and my favorite restaurant is Kikis in the lower east side they have the best pastitsio ever!

What is your favorite cocktail?

My favorite cocktail would have to be a good old Tom Collins or a mug of mulled wine.

How do you balance personal life and work?

It is not an easy task as a freelancer to truly separate my work and personal life. I’ve recently been struggling with this a lot more than usual. Ceramics is extremely time consuming and sometimes its hard not to feel burnt out from working all the time. I’ve been trying to take it easy and be kinder to myself when I’m feeling overwhelmed. I think the key is to slow down and take a walk around the park. Journaling also helps me a lot.

Dream trip?

Crete to Cairo to Istanbul. My last name means captain and my family originated from Crete. These three places is where they would have sailed to.

Dream commission?

I think I would love to have my items in Film and TV. Maybe it’s sitting in the background or maybe Timothee Chalamet is drinking out of one of my mugs.