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I currently make porcelain pots, fired in my high fire gas reduction kiln and in wood kilns throughout western North Carolina. My work centers around two of my most passionate loves: food and flowers. I strive to make classic, elegant shapes that serve to elevate their everyday uses. My designs are simple, yet refined, given thoughtful attention to  handles and their placement, lips and spouts for drinking and pouring, and  trimmed or accentuated feet to promote functionality. I love the thought that my shino and green celadon glazes have been used by ceramists for centuries but are still relevant today. My more recent wood fired pottery has brought new forms and carved surfaces that creates nooks for ash to land and accentuate texture. My primary influences have been Depression glassware, Scandinavian design, and the clays and shared ideas of North Carolina’s clay communities. All this has inspired my functional pottery combining form and function for home and life.

I graduated as salutatorian of my county’s only school in rural Stanford, Kentucky. My dream was tor be an on-air broadcast journalist until my Dad’s death in 2005 when I realized that beyond education, peace and happiness were also lofty goals. I first found that in the Art Barn at Centre college, where I learned to express myself through clay. At the Arrowmount School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN and later at the nearby Pigeon River Pottery I had years of professional experience firing bisque and high fire gas kilns. Moving to Asheville in 2010, I worked at Odyssey Clayworks  before joining Clayspace Co-op in the River Arts District.

Website: www.candicehensley.com