Diana Hoover is a full-time ceramic artist working under the studio name Knook Ceramics. She is based in Asheville, NC, where she lives with her husband and son. Hoover enjoys experimenting with form and color and strives to make functional and sculptural ceramic objects that fit well as a cohesive collection but can also stand alone. Her inspirations include the Bauhaus, minimalist art and architecture, neo-concretism, geometric abstraction, and modern quilting. Most of her work is thrown on the wheel, and she uses a creamy white mid-range temperature clay body. Hoover conceptualizes each piece both as a vessel and a canvas. Using the technique of hard-edge painting, she paints bold lines and patterns on each bisqued form with underglaze. Hoover appreciates how lines and patterns naturally distort when applied to the surface of a 3-dimensional and curved form, making each piece unique.
