Michael Kline lives in western North Carolina, in the vicinity of the Penland School of Crafts. Since 1989 he has been a full-time studio potter, teaching workshops throughout the country and exhibiting his work nationally and internationally.
For most of his career, Kline has worked with wood-fired, salt-glazed stoneware, usually with organic patterns painted on a thick white slip surface, glass "runs" and an alkaline ash glaze. While a resident at Penland (1998-2001), he began making large pots inspired by the traditional stoneware of North Carolina. In 2015 he visited the Freer-Sackler Wing of the Smithsonian and was struck by 15th century examples of the Korean sangam technique. Since then, he has focused on merging that technique with his own aesthetic, creating floral stamps and inlaying the impressions with white slip on a dark stoneware base. Kline’s work is consistently identifiable in its delicate pattern systems contrasted with robust forms and somewhat coarse materials.