My name is Kimberly Rotchford, and I live in Sacramento, California. I have been an avid student and practitioner of many forms of art for more than 20 years. I was raised in a household in which arts and crafts were were always in practice and creativity was definitely encouraged.

I have attended courses at American River College in Sacramento since 1990. I have studied art concepts and painting for many semesters under the tutelage of Gary Pruner, a renowned California artist and master colorist.

I started studying ceramics with Rodney Mott, an incredible artist. I definitely give him credit for instilling in me an absolute passion for ceramics. My prior training with Gary Pruner has helped me as a ceramicist for he taught me artistic composition and effective use of color (along with much, much more). I still study ceramics occasionally as a studio student under the tutelage of Linda Gelfman, the head of the ceramics department at American River College.

I have a definite hunger for learning many forms of art and can't see myself ever tiring of it. As I get closer to retirement, all I can think about is how, someday, I can be a full-time artist and have an incredibly happy retirement because of it.

My Ceramics

My collection of ceramics is very eclectic. I like doing simple functional pieces all the way to sculptural, impressionistic pieces. I have a particular love of applying texture to my pieces. Nothing brings me more joy than to see someone not resisting the temptation to touch a piece and then smile as they run their fingers over the surface. I also love to experiement with combinations of glaze and various color combinations. I have a collection of over 100 glazes with which I run extensives tests to see what works together and what doesn't (although I sometimes like the failures just as much as the successes).

When creating my individual works of art, I use many methods including throwing them on the potter's wheel, coil building (always playing around with different ways to get various textures), and slab building. I have many stamps and wheels (as well as anything I see that might create a fun or lovely effect) for applying various kinds of texture.

I am a studio artists, so I do not do production work. Each piece is unique and individual. I will occasionally do small sets of pieces (sugar and creamer, plates, etc.), but I do not develop one piece and then make hundreds of copies of it. I do occasionally do special requests for sets of things, but even then I do not concentrate on them being exactly alike (so they to are still unique pieces). Feel free to contact me if you are interested in making a request, and I will let you know if I am able to accommodate you.