Ken Shipley is an associate professor of Art at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tenn. He has worked in ceramics for 30 years and began his career as an apprentice to both Charles Counts in Rising Fawn, Ga., and Bill Ashley in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ken’s work covers many aspects of ceramics, from production pottery to large, one-of-a-kind vessel pieces, both wheel thrown and hand built. He uses high fire reduction, salt /soda, wood fire, and electric kilns. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in Religious Studies and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Artist Statement

“I have had the good fortune to travel to Europe and Asia in the last few years to experience the differences in culture and find the differences in how artists treat different type media other than what they themselves use. I have found something very refreshing. You find that a potter’s work is as important as a photographer’s. A draftsman’s work is as important as a sculptor’s. All media are as important one to the other and all are respected equally. What you find is that you have the ability to communicate with the language of the objects you make rather than with the words you speak, that through these means you are understood and that you may understand.”

Shown Right: Paloma, ceramic, 9" x 15"

Arts at the Airport receives funding for the visual arts from the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority (MNAA) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC). The Flying Solo Exhibition Series is funded under an agreement with the Tennessee Arts Commission. For more information about Arts at the Airport, please call (615) 275-1614, or send email to arts@nashintl.com.