Rick Hensley, Richard Hensley

Biography to Display:

1949 born

EDUCATION

1972 BFA Ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

1974 MFA Ceramics, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

APPRENTICESHIPS & RESIDENCIES

Resident, Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Helena, Montana

Resident, Izmir, Turkey

PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE

1974- Studio Potter

2004- Professor of Ceramics at Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Hensley is known for wheel thrown high fired functional porcelain. Many pots are slip cast and fired in a gas kiln in a reduction atmosphere. Surface techniques include: wax resist; patterned stamping in leather hard stage; imprinting from slip cast mold; stylized tracery drawing; and the application translucent blues and celadon glaze. Hensley frequently uses a runny ash glaze to encourage the glaze to gather in the stamped areas and produce a deeper color variant. After bisque firing the form a wax resist method is used to develop patterns. The natural world is referenced in the motifs of leaves and flowers seen in finished work.

Hensley studied with Ken Ferguson and Victor Babu at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Since 1976, Hensley has lived and worked in Floyd, Virginia with his wife and fellow potter, Donna Polseno. As an accomplished mold maker, he also creates molds for his wife.

Hensley is a co-founder of 16 Hands, a ceramic co-operative based in Virginia.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Public Collections to Display:

American Museum of Ceramic Arts, Pomona, California

Erie Art Museum, Erie, Pennsylvania

Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri

Lannan Museum, Palm Beach Community College, West Palm Beach, Florida

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bibliography to Display:

Hluch, Kevin. “Pots with a View: The Work of Richard Hensley and Donna Polseno.” Ceramics Monthly, March 2005, Vol. 53, Issue 3, pg.76-79. Archive Article: Pots with a View: The Work of Richard Hensley and Donna Polseno (ceramicartsnetwork.org)

Martin, Andrew. The Essential Guide to Mold Making and Slip Casting. Asheville, NC: Lark Books, 2007.

Museum of Contemporary Crafts (New York, N.Y.), and Tucson Museum of Art. 1978. Young Americans: Clay [and] Glass; [catalogue of an exhibition held at] the Tucson Museum of Art May 6 to June 11, 1978 [and] the Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Crafts Council, sponsored by the American Crafts Council. New York: Museum of Contemporary Crafts of the American Crafts Council.

“Richard Hensley Pottery.” Personal Website, accessed Aug. 6, 2021. https://richardhensleypottery.com/richardhensleypottery/Welcome_1.html

Romtvedt David. “The Ceramics of Donna Polseno and Richard Hensley.” Ceramics: Arts and Perception, 2016, Issue 104, pg. 68-71.

WEBSITE(S):

www.richardhensleypottery.com