Smokeware ceramicist wins Chamber’s new arts award: A breath of fresh air for once-waylaid artist

Editor’s note: The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce is a non-financial partner of Startland News, which serves as the media partner for the Small Business Superstars program.

Riley Brain strikes a delicate balance between artist and entrepreneur, the founder said Thursday after being named the KC Chamber’s first winner of the Luminary Art and Creative Small Business Award.

“I’ve always gotten flack for not fitting neatly in the box,” said Brain, owner of Wandering Bud, at the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Celebration Awards Luncheon at the Crown Center Westin. “So this award feels very representative of what I do — intertwining art with commerce. It feels great to get some recognition that feels appropriate and exciting.”

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Artists at Wandering Bud craft smokeware at the business’s Troost Avenue studio; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Wandering Bud — founded in 2016 because Brain was tired of stashing away her smokeware when her parents came to visit — is a ceramic design and production studio that focuses on bringing highly aesthetic, handmade smokeware into the home.

The Chamber’s new award is for artists-founded and artists-run businesses that produce original work and products and whose owner maintains individual ownership of their intellectual property.

“The Luminary Arts and Creative Small Business Award was developed to celebrate and elevate the vibrancy and entrepreneurial ambitions in our regional arts and culture sector,” noted Dana Knapp, the president and CEO of ArtsKC, who presented the award at Thursday’s luncheon. “The KC Chamber sought guidance from ArtsKC and a few other artists and arts organizations across the community to gain an understanding of how the Chamber’s engagement can best serve for-profit arts and creative businesses in our region, just one facet of a diverse and transformative growing regional arts sector.”

The equity award was among five specialty honors revealed Thursday, alongside the coveted Mr. K Award for the Small Business of the Year.

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A team of artisans at Wandering Bud craft smokeware at the business’s Troost Avenue studio; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News

Brain applied for small business awards in the past, she said, but was always waylaid by non-applicable questions about revenue and growth numbers.

“It helps bring attention to and it’s very representative of the arts community,” she continued.  “Allowing this to be more like focused on the arts feels really, really nice.”

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Fresh off maternity leave, Brain noted that Wandering Bud — which operates out of a studio on Troost Avenue and employs a team of artists — is undergoing a couple of product redesigns and new glaze testing.

“We’re completely changing our studio series colors around,” she explained, “so all that should be launching this fall/winter. Our one-hitter is getting a refresh and our ashtray is getting a refresh. So we are very, very excited about those things.”