Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2024
Mandy has been working with clay in some capacity for over three decades and has been a full-time studio potter for nine years. In December 2019, she and her husband relocated from Denver, Colorado to Meridian, Idaho with their two dogs Hank and Chloe. Mandy actively exhibits her work in exhibitions such as Strictly Functional in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Last Call VIII at Companion Gallery in Humboldt, Tennessee and DelecTable at Art Students League of Denver in Denver, Colorado.
She also had the honor of being featured in Ceramics Monthly, Pottery Making Illustrated and have a pop-up shop at West Elm. Henebry spends her summers enjoying the great outdoors of Idaho and participating in various nationally juried art festivals. Previously, she served as the studio manager at Arapahoe Community College and taught classes at a local art center in Castle Rock, Colorado. Currently, she is enjoying her studio in Meridian, where she continues to create as a professional potter.
The work I create is intended to convey purpose and evoke curiosity and interest through patterns and form. I take inspiration from design elements found in everyday life, such as textiles patterns or beautifully decorated homes. I then consider how I can incorporate visual beauty into my work by adding texture, colored slips, and handmade templates to graceful forms. I view the surface of my pots as a blank canvas. My influences and inspiration largely come from the places I travel to, historic patterns, and bold patterns from decades past. Growing up on a farm in Wyoming, my childhood memories of expansive fields of flowing grain and colorful flowers in my grandmother’s gardens greatly shape my surface patterns and color palette.
I am also attracted to the clean, precise lines of digitally created images and the endless possibilities that technology continues to offer in the realm of ceramics. Being able to explore the three-dimensional world of nature and blend it with a two-dimensional geometric surface is essential to my creativity. Utility is important to me when creating new pieces. We all have a natural understanding of function, which is why form cannot be overlooked. Perfecting the curve on a mug to fit comfortably in your hand as you enjoy your morning coffee, or designing a bowl that holds the perfect amount of bread dough, highlight the importance of utility. I take pleasure in creating forms that serve specific purposes, yet solve a need in a creative way, such as stacking canisters. Through form, clay gains focus and a sense of purpose. I design pottery that I would personally enjoy using daily and displaying in my home.