Ken Shores

Ken Shores earned the reputation of "class artist" after he created a mural-sized crayon depiction of an Indian village in elementary school. Years later, he received his BS and MFA from the University of Oregon, where he initially studied painting before "discovering" clay. Shores supplemented his education over the course of two summers spent in Northern California, where he studied with Bauhaus potter Marguerite Wildenhain. These workshops influenced him less stylistically than in work ethic and dedication to his craft. Shores takes inspiration from the organic forms of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí (1852–1926) and pre-Columbian decorative art objects, which he started collecting after graduate school.