Katie Meili Messersmith is a Chinese American potter with a functional and minimalist style. She started working with clay in 2013 and has been a professional potter since 2018—but that wasn’t always her path. Consistently excelling in STEM subjects, she envisioned a career in that area, but several traumatic events led her to realize that clay was the key to a happy and fulfilling life. You can see her work in Perspective Café at the Museum and galleries in Asheville.