Life & Work with Kevin Howard

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Howard.

Hi Kevin, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up (and still live) on a small family farm in rural Eastern North Carolina and enjoyed spending my time outdoors or reading books about nature, science, art, and history.

I have always had a strong artistic lean, and I was constantly drawing, mostly birds, and coming up with crazy dreams and plans. I wanted to pursue a career as a designer in high school, but I second-guessed myself and instead focused on my other passions of history and culture, studying Classics and archaeology and American Studies at UNC-CH.

After graduating, I returned to the farm to help my parents out and had a few years’ detours working farmers’ markets and selling produce and plants we grew in the greenhouses, but after my father’s passing in 2013, I started feeling that pull to express myself creatively again.

In the fall of 2016, looked around for available classes in different media, and saw that there was a pottery studio (Dan Finch’s in Bailey, NC) nearby that didn’t offer formal lessons but access to the equipment and a sense of community that seemed intriguing, so I figured it was worth a shot. I had never touched clay since a couple of tiny hand-built sculptures in elementary and middle school, and it took months before I had a handful of finished pieces.

Although I had considered giving up, I was determined to see it through, and I purchased my own wheel and put it in a closet in my home so I could spend more time practicing. At this time, I was still busy with the greenhouse business, so I thought it would be logical to make little planters to put succulents and other tiny plants in. Because of my love for history and ancient objects, I naturally gravitated to carving geometric designs or sculpting faces to put on the small pots I was making.

My first show was in November of 2017, and I offered a bunch of tiny pots with plants in them, and people loved it! I realized there was potential there, so I fixed up a building on the farm to move my wheel into, and a friend gave me a small kiln to complete the new studio. In October 2018, with much trepidation, I started an Etsy shop and officially launched my brand Aloe Frost and I even had a few sales that day. Things were slow but steady, until the next year when Etsy contacted me because they wanted to feature my Mustache Moodies, and after that, I knew I had to become a full-time potter.

Since those early days, the Moodie line of face planters has been my primary focus, and the majority of my work is sold online through my own website. I am hoping to be able to start back with in-person shows around the Triangle later this year if things go to plan because I miss the direct interaction with customers and seeing how they respond to my work.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I am very grateful for how smooth it has been overall, and I chalk that up to how much I wanted it to succeed and to be able to create full-time, but it’s definitely had its ups and downs. In the beginning, and to a lesser extent now, I was trying to run the farming/greenhouse business while also learning a new skill and trying to come up with ideas for my real passion, so there was a struggle to make it happen.

There have been a lot of growing pains with the business too, and I’ve had to learn through trial and error what works and what doesn’t for me. I have a tendency to get overwhelmed at times, so I stopped doing preorders as they put too much stress and extra work on me. My work has been more popular than I would have ever expected, so I often worry that I am not making enough pots to meet demand which led to an unhealthy work-life balance at times.

The other main issue I encounter is that since most of my promotion is done on Instagram, I have had several of my designs copied and mass-produced without my permission, but unfortunately there is not much I can do about that. Instead, I focus on being the best I can be and I try to innovate as much as I can, trusting that my customers appreciate the handmade nature of my work and how much I put into it.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a potter, so I make pots!

At this moment I focus primarily on smaller planters, and my mainline consists of Moodies, which started out just as face planters with a variety of different expressions but has grown to include several other collections, such as the mustache pots, cats, dogs, nudes, and people holding flowers or eating bananas, to name some of the more popular designs I’ve come up with. Most of my work is unglazed stoneware, and I work in several different clays to achieve a very earthy but colorful style. I aim to have something for everyone, and I think the inclusivity of my work has accounted for some of its popularity.

My mind is always on, so I constantly have new ideas, but unfortunately, not enough time to make them all happen immediately. I try to come up with things I have not seen done in pottery before and a lot of it comes down to the small details I add to a piece. I like to keep things simple, but all of my pots are still unique because they are individually sculpted without any molds, and I don’t plan to change that.

As I move forward, I hope to expand the line to bring back mugs and other housewares as well as to work on other personal projects I have not yet had time for.

How can people work with you, collaborate with you, or support you?
At this time, I have a lot on my plate, so I’ve not been able to do custom or preorders for a while, and I’ve taken a break from wholesale as well, but the best place to follow what I’m up to is through my Instagram.

I try to have a restock on my website every 4-6 weeks with everything I have been working on, but many pieces sell out quickly. If I am able to start doing in-person shows in the Triangle again this year, I will make announcements on social media, as I love meeting fans!

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: aloe-frost.com
• Instagram: @aloe_frost
• Facebook: facebook.com/aloefrost