Omo (oh-mo) Studio is a multi-disciplinary creative studio specializing in stoneware ceramics, paintings, woodworks and furniture. It is the ongoing art project of Jay Fiske and Kelly Schirmann (us!) — creative collaborators, life partners, and lifelong artists working across multiple genres. All of our work is made in our home studio in Missoula, Montana, where we live with our dog Kenji.

Jay makes paintings, furniture, wall sculptures, and other woodworks. He is a lifelong musician who has toured nationally with multiple bands. He worked as a visual artist, illustrator, and graphic designer for fifteen years before attending a woodworking intensive at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine. There, he learned to build furniture using traditional joinery techniques, and began making furniture inspired by modern Scandinavian and Japanese woodwork. Since 2018 he has been working on a series of large-scale paintings, and his shows Utopia (2020) and Lucid Dream (2021) have been shown in multiple galleries. He performs regularly with the Ephemeral Missoula music collective. He takes inspiration from artists like JB Blunk, Ido Yoshimoto, and George Nakashima, among others.

Kelly makes functional stoneware ceramics, tiles, wall sculptures, and textile artworks. She is the author of two books of poetry and essays, The New World (2020) and Popular Music (2016). While working on edits for her first book in 2015, she joined Hey Ceramics Studio in Portland, Oregon, where she re-kindled a pottery practice she’d first developed as a teenager. She developed a line of wheel-thrown stoneware ceramic dishes which became a core piece of OMO, and which are fired in a gas reduction kiln to achieve organic texture and warmth. In 2020, she completed her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Montana, where she currently teaches writing. She takes inspiration from artists like Jenny Holzer, Donald Judd, and Etel Adnan, among others.

Omo was created in 2016 in an effort to bring our multi-disciplinary strands of work together. While the foundations of the studio are firmly rooted in stoneware ceramics, woodwork, and paintings, we think of this project as being “seasonal” — informed and inspired by shifts in our own creative interests and practices. This seasonality allows us to explore, develop, and offer limited collaborations and series, and to take on larger custom fabrication and art projects for individuals, art galleries, restaurants, architectural offices, and more. It also gives us the freedom to keep our creative practice alive.

We believe that art is a way of life, and the studio—its projects, practices, and offerings—is a reflection and response to that belief. We are open to project ideas big and small. If you’re interested in carrying our work, curious about collaboration, or looking for more information about custom pieces or fabrication, we’d love to hear from you. Please email us at hello@omo.studio if you’re looking to connect.