VatneSmith Studios

My name is Kristina Vatne (better known as "Splat!" to my friends in the Roller Derby community), and I love making beautiful, functional art. At the risk of sounding like a cliché, each piece of VatneSmith pottery really IS one of a kind! I individually craft my own forms, from vases & mugs to worry stones & ornaments. And with the sole exception of some merch, every bit of the design on each piece has been individually carved on that specific piece. 

I took my first Ceramics class at Portland Community College-Sylvania in 2004. After the first week, and despite demonstrating ZERO natural talent for working with clay (no, I’m not being humble!), I was hopelessly addicted. I then proceeded to take almost 10 years of Ceramics I classes. 

I was clay-less for a few sad years before a move to Tillamook combined with Portland’s clinically insane housing market to bless me with my own studio. Six calendar years and thousands of studio hours later, I am still completely enthralled with this opportunity. 

I started VatneSmith Studios as a way to share my art with the larger world while freeing up studio space and helping defray some of the costs of my pottery obsession. I started with an Etsy site, but after my first Night Market, I was hooked by the exhausting thrill of selling (and the occasional exhausting defeat of NOT selling) to people I could actually talk to.

In addition to being VatneSmith’s Artist/ Sole Proprietrix/ Production Master, I am the Victims Assistance Program Coordinator for the Tillamook County District Attorney’s Office. I am also a proud member of Crow City Derby in Hillsboro.