Inspired by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian, North Carolina ceramic artist Kai Lum explores the balance between opposing forces of vertical and horizontal lines, the colors of black and white – and the interplay of freedom and restraint.
Artist: Lum grew up outside of Denver, CO. Their knowledge and love of clay started one summer at a pottery camp.
Later, Lum reconnected with ceramics at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where they earned a BFA. After graduation, Lum moved to North Carolina for an artist residency at Odyssey ClayWorks in Asheville.
Started in 2024, Kai Lum Clay is based in the artist’s home studio in Waynesville, NC.
Art & materials: Hand-built black and white sculptures typically using off-white mid-range stoneware clay, although they sometimes experiments with local clay that is much darker in color ($200 to $1,200).
What’s popular: Lately, De Stijl works inspired by Mondrian.
“I am interested in Mondrian because he was also a person from the ‘Western’ world who believed in ‘Eastern’ religions,” said Lum, who like Mondrian, seeks to find balance in opposites.
Themes:
- Balance in opposites.
- Relationships of interconnectedness.
- Expression of the universal.
Tools: Clay. Also a variety of ribs for smoothing and a grid ruler for drawing.
Inspirations:
- Taoism.
- Artist Piet Mondrian.
- De Stijl and Neo-Plasticism styles of art adopted by Mondrian.
- Ink traditions from their ancestral Chinese heritage, like calligraphy and landscape painting.
Commission: “Fallen Angel,” which brought to life an image and a story envisioned by Lum’s client, a beauty specialist in Winston-Salem.
Award: Won first place for “Appalachian Ocean” in the 2025 Will’s Creek Exhibition of Fine Art hosted by the Allegany Arts Council.
Recent exhibitions:
- “Composition (Monument)” was displayed (and sold!) at ArtFields 2026. ArtFields is an annual festival in Lake City, SC.
- “Composition (Tower),” Lum’s tallest De Stijl piece, was in Grand Rapids, MI, for ArtPrize. 2026. ArtPrize is an international art competition and cultural festival.
Where to buy: (will add links in editing)
- Etsy.com/shop/KaiLumClay.
- Gallery Anderson Smith, Atlanta, GA.
Connect:
- Instagram: @kai.lum.clay
- Website: kailumclay.com
