Henry Mead

American, (1928–2018)

Born in 1928, Henry Mead spent much of his career as a potter and educator living in Denver and Carbondale, Colorado. He received a master’s degree in ceramic design and quickly established his own studio just west of Castle Rock, Colorado, in 1964. The studio’s location had a significant impact on his aesthetic, as the local clay, a fine yellow powder that turns a soft red when fired to stoneware temperatures, yielded a particular color palette with various glazes. Mead taught ceramics at Temple Buell College, special classes for the Colorado Potters Guild, and was chairman of the Colorado Artist-Craftsmen until he moved to Pasadena, California, in the early 1990s. There he continued to collaborate with his partner and fellow artist Joyce Newman until his death in 2018.