Pottery and Functional Sculpture
Robin Henschel designs and makes hand-built and
wheel-thrown
stoneware pottery. She describes her work as "functional sculpture"---
original ceramic art which also serves everyday purposes.
Her work includes
casseroles, fountains, candle-holders and planters.
"I feel that integrating the functional and the sculptural allows my
art to find a regular place in the lives of those who buy or view it.
I hope that regular use makes for for a continuing and changing
appreciation of my work."
Henschel is particular drawn to clay as an artistic medium because of
its physical and textural attributes. "I try to emphasize the
dichotomy between the soft and stone-like states of clay using animal
and natural forms as my subject matter." She incorporates, as well,
"elemental" forces into her pieces: water flows down the fountains,
steam drifts from the mouths her casseroles' dragons, plants become
the hair for the faces on her planters.
Ms. Henschel is a founding partner of Feet of Clay Pottery Inc.,
established in Brookline, MA in 1974. She is a 1974 graduate of the
Massachusetts College of Art and had additional training at Harvard
College Pottery.
