Linda Manning

Artist Statement and bio

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work is grounded in clay and shaped through an intuitive, responsive process that unfolds over time. I begin by listening—to material, to form, and to what emerges through making rather than imposing a fixed outcome. Clay is the foundation of my practice, carrying story through surface, texture, weight, and mark. As a piece evolves, it may invite collaboration with other materials, chosen for their resonance and relationship rather than symbolism alone.

I am interested in endurance—how both people and land carry experience, adapt to impact, and continue forward. My work engages cultural memory and human experience, with a particular focus on the strength and agency of women. These themes are not illustrated but embedded, revealed through structure, layering, and the quiet tensions held within a form.

Form in my work is not static. It shifts, stacks, leans, opens, or pauses, reflecting a process that allows for change. Where a piece begins is not always where it arrives, and that evolution is essential to the work. Surface remains active, bearing evidence of touch, pressure, and time.

My background in design informs my attention to structure and proportion, while years of studio practice in clay have taught me to remain flexible, responsive, and present. Teaching and working within creative communities have further shaped my belief in process as both a personal and shared experience.

Ultimately, my work asks for slow looking. It offers space for reflection rather than resolution—inviting viewers to notice what persists, what adapts, and what continues to hold meaning through change.

BIO

Linda Manning is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is grounded in clay and shaped by an intuitive, responsive process developed over more than twenty years of studio practice. She holds a BS in Interior Design from University of Texas at San Antonio School of Architecture and spent two decades working in commercial and residential design before devoting her practice full to fine art. Working across ceramics and mixed media, she builds forms through surface, texture, and evolving material relationships, allowing each piece to develop through attentive making. 

Manning co-owned and operated a fine art gallery in Boerne, Texas for eight years and has taught clay handbuilding from her home studio for more than a decade, experiences that continue to shape her commitment to both community and process.

Her work engages ideas of endurance, cultural and political memory, and the strength and agency of women, drawing parallels between human resilience and the ways land bears and adapts to impact. She currently lives and works in Texas and plans to relocate to Santa Fe in the near future.