Joined: 2000
Portrait by Ellen Harasimowicz
Kevin’s Impact: Through his drive to help CCLC provide opportunities that might not otherwise be available, Kevin does whatever it takes to support CCLC’s work. From combing through the facilities during power outages and snowstorms to making sure everything is functioning to managing the entire information technology system to providing pottery classes to the community, one co-worker described Kevin as “the axle that keeps the CCLC turning.”
““Kevin’s work enables the rest of us to communicate with the community.””
Back when CCLC was just an idea between community members, Kevin was demonstrating his skills as a potter at the Grand Lake Stream Folk Art Festival on a rainy summer day. Alan Furth, future Executive Director of CCLC, was there with his band in need of a dry place to play music. Kevin offered some room under his dry tent where he was demonstrating his craft and they struck up a friendship. Alan described watching festival-goers on that day “become mesmerized by the transformations of clay being conjured by his skilled hands from mound to elegant vessel…Kevin was both a skilled artist but clearly also a skilled teacher.” Not long after, Alan and the other founders of CCLC invited Kevin to design and teach one of CCLC’s first educational offerings: Earth, Form, and Fire: a Raku pottery class.
““My main drive for working here is to provide opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be available.””
Kevin then became one of the first paid staff of CCLC and committed himself to its development. He created CCLC’s first website, helped clear the land for the first building, and to this day continues to make sure all systems on campus run smoothly. This dedication to the people and place that compose CCLC came through in reflections from his co-workers; as one of them said, “He genuinely cares about us and it shows.” As a potter, Kevin sees potential in an often messy lump of earth then patiently forms the clay into a masterpiece. Similarly, Kevin saw the potential of CCLC at the beginning and has patiently and masterfully embedded beauty and function into the organization ever since.