Artist Bio

Kelly McLaughlin grew up in Washington State where she received her BFA in Ceramics and Printmaking from Pacific Lutheran University in 2014. Though she began with the intent of going into medicine, McLaughlin found her people amongst the mud. She dropped out of university for a year to contemplate life, joined the circus up in Alaska, and came back to finish her degree the following year. After graduating, she apprenticed at a tattoo shop in Tacoma, while maintaining a print shop in Seattle and a ceramics studio in Tacoma. She then moved to Alaska on a hope and a dream, completing a Post Baccalaureate program at the University of Alaska, Anchorage in 2017. While there, she fell in love with rock climbing and mountaineering, an intensity of pursuit that adds to her sculpting. After a several month mountaineering road trip from Alaska to Ohio in 2017, McLaughlin received her MFA in Ceramics from Ohio University in 2020. Due to COVID-19, McLaughlin’s thesis show was canceled but she was still accepted into the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Archie Bray Foundation for artist residencies after graduation: Arrowmont’s being deferred and the Bray’s remote. McLaughlin ended up moving to Montana after her remote summer residency at the Bray, after which she became a long-term resident at Studio 740 with Beth Cavener from 2020-2023. She should return to the Bray in person in 2022 as a Fall Resident. She then took a break from sculpting and became a W-EMT, ski patroller, and avid backcountry trail runner. In the fall of 2024, Kelly completed a short-term residency at Red Lodge Clay Center, where she now currently lives and works as a long-term resident. Her work has been showcased both nationally and internationally, and can be found in numerous private and public collections.