Samantha Henneke
North Carolina

White smooth stoneware
Functional
8.25"w x 5.5"l x 4.5"h

About the Teapot
Samantha’s teapot is the perfect size for an individual’s afternoon tea. Its surface embellishment has a random dotted pattern with a tactile quality. This teapot is wheel-thrown with a smooth white stoneware clay and fired in a reduction atmosphere.

About the Artist
Samantha Henneke is a full-time studio potter living in Seagrove, North Carolina with her husband Bruce Gholson. Together, they work in the clay studio and maintain their pottery sales shop for the public. Samantha grew up in Blacksburg, Virginia, and attended Virginia Tech. While searching the halls for her place in life she finally found it while taking a pottery class. After completing one more year at Virginia Tech, she transferred to the New York State College of Ceramics in Alfred and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics.
Her studio art pottery aesthetics are traditional with a flare - a dotted mug, an insect on a plate, or swirl on a covered jar. Samantha also enjoys creating fantasy garden landscapes depicting life in the garden. She composes crystalline glazed paintings on porcelain canvases of scenes such as a red dressed girl working with a dung beetle, a larger-than-life red-eye fly portrait, or girl skipping through a garden of flowering shoes.

Artist Statement
Making pottery in the studio is an orchestration of designing the shape, decorating the form, applying the glaze to accentuate its surface and firing the glazed pottery piece to maturity. The daily process of working with clay is a gratifying experience for me. I want my functional work to be beautiful and comfortable to use.
I primarily work with smooth textured clays, such as porcelain or light colored stoneware, for the brilliant color response glazes have when applied and fired onto white or light toned surfaces. I enjoy decorating the surface of the pots I make, and many times I will design the clay forms for particular glazing techniques. My approach to surface decoration varies depending on my choice of glazes, the type of firing, and my current mood. I am fascinated with macro photography and exploring my garden collecting images of insects in their environments. I utilize this activity to capture stories among the foliage, to create colorful compositions, and patterns to form a snapshot in time and imagination.

*Teapots that are purchased will remain on display in the gallery for the duration of the exhibition, through September 14, 2026.
After the show closes, teapots will be carefully packed and shipped by September 28, or they may be picked up at the gallery.

National Teapot Show XIII

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Samantha Henneke - Dotted Teapot