Kristin Bernhardt Conrad, Artist

In many old philosophies it is said that we come into the world with a mission, a calling so-to-speak, and it is our job in life to find and develop it, despite the obstacles of fate.

I was not raised in an art-focussed family, though a number of my relatives were Sunday painters and possessed talent. But I have always possessed an inherent need to create.

When I was 9 years old my parents stopped at an old restored grain mill for some flour. The woman who owned the mill was a potter and sold her work in the shop. I was fascinated with one of her round, lidded ginger jars and used my allowance money to buy it—a budding pottery collector, aged nine! I still have that beautiful jar. It was not until I was in my twenties that I had my first opportunity to put my own hands to clay, and it was instant love!

I have always loved to draw and paint! When I was eleven years old I found a set of nearly dried-up oil paints my father had not touched in years and painted my first tiny painting on a scrap of pine paneling left over from a living room remodel.

I have been hooked on both painting and working with clay ever since. The creative processes feed on each other. They are different ways that I try to grasp the complexity of the universe in my hand and twist it all around at different angles to try to understand a little better, to add a tiny piece of meaning to the big story.

My studio is in my home in Nederland, Colorado—high in the Rocky Mountains where everything is the raw, primal force of nature blowing down from the high peaks outside my window, and through forests and meadows and me!

RECENT JURIED CERAMIC SHOWS

The Craft Alliance (St. Louis, MO) - In My Space: Functional Craft for the Home - October 1, 2025 - January 9, 2026

Curtis Center for the Arts (Denver, CO), 42nd Annual Best of Colorado Show - July 12 - August 29, 2025

Gilpin County Arts Association (Central City, CO), 78th Annual Juried Show, June 7 - August 8, 2025 (Received 3rd Place in the 3D category that included clay, wood, stone, jewelry, etc.)

Gilpin Country Arts Association (Central City, CO), 77th Annual Juried Show, 2024

The Depot Art Gallery (Denver, CO), 39th Annual Best of Colorado Show, 2023