I started making little alien looking figures in middles school out of Sculpey clay and fought my way into a Ceramics I class in college (which was an elective for me but the only class I ever pulled an all nighter for...priorities...). On a whim I googled pottery vacation about a year ago and ended up signed up at Arrowmont for a one week class (I totally thought it was a normal way to end up there...) My teacher and class mates were the best and all encouraged me, which gave me the dangerous confidence to try this thing. So 1 year packed full of practice later, lots of words of affirmation from friends, a sold previous business to free up my time, a crazy 2 month road trip for inspiration (and lets be real to recover from burnout), an unexpected internship, and a seemingly insurmountable unexpected hospital debt (nothing like that to give you a good kick in the pants for motivation) later and here I am. Brukie is a combination of my family names. Brubaker on my father's side (meaning someone who lives by the bridge over the mountain stream)
Kieffer on my mother's side (which is the German word for pine tree)
Take the first three letters of each and you get BRU-KIE! I hope my ceramics will encourage you to remember, celebrate and live slowly. I think I spend way to much time constantly pushing forward to the next thing, rushing to the weekend, running from meeting to meeting or planning the next adventure. I don't want to live my entire life in a hurry. I want to stop and REMEMBER the incredible things that have happened, people I have met, lessons I've learned and mentors who have invested in me. I want to CELEBRATE all the incredible friendships and beautiful moments and take time to sit and listen and eat meals together. And finally (you guessed it) I want to LIVE SLOWLY. I want to reheat my coffee three times to give me enough space to have a long morning conversation with a dear friend. I want to sit on the porch and watch the rain fall, drive down an unknown road on a crazy road trip, and have time to learn the mailman's name and make art with the neighborhood kids and most of all cook and eat delicious meals on beautifully made dinnerware. I would be overjoyed for you to join me in this!