Ayumi Horie

Originally from Lewiston-Auburn, Ayumi Horie (born 1969) is a full-time studio potter in Portland. She is recognized in the field of craft for championing the aesthetics of kawaii (the culture of cuteness in Japan), for her online presence and videos, and her political activism. She co-founded The Democratic Cup, a political project that seeks to catalyze conversation through collaborative cups made by more than two dozen artists, and co-created Portland Brick, a collaborative public art project that repaired city sidewalks with bricks made from local clay stamped with past, contemporary, and future memories in the India Street neighborhood in Portland. Her work is in numerous public and private collections, including the Museum of Art and Design. She is currently a trustee at the American Craft Council and the Vice President of the board at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. She has received a Distinguished Fellow in Craft grant from United States Artists and was the first recipient of Ceramics Monthly’s Ceramic Artist of the Year award.