I work in ceramics because I am interested in landscape, and it is hard to get earthier than putting dirt in my kiln and turning it into a rock. I am also attracted to the variety of surfaces afforded by clay and glaze. The materiality of ceramics, experimentation with my materials, and discovery through iteration have been a consistent aspect of my artistic practice. Much of my previous work has incorporated objects and locations in the built environment. Since moving to Colorado, I have begun volunteering for the city of Aurora’s Open Spaces and Natural Resources division, where my main projects have been documenting biodiversity and ecosystem restoration. As a result, my work is now turning to imagery from eastern Colorado’s shortgrass prairie ecosystem. I often reflect and rotate these images to create symmetrical patterns inspired by the geometric designs of Islamic tile work, the rosettes of Talavera tiles, and medieval English church pavements. Broken and incomplete patterns consider the relationships between humans, native plants and animals, and invasive species in the prairie.

Amy Manning lives and works in Aurora, Colorado. She exhibits locally, regionally, and nationally. Past projects include cardboard machinery, electronic textiles, and a public art installation for the city of Scottsdale, Arizona. Her current work is mainly ceramic wall panels with forays into mixed-media sculpture. In 2021 she was a teaching artist-in-residence for Scottsdale Public Arts, and in 2017 she received an Eric Fischl Vanguard Award, juried by Eric Fischl and Nijedka Akunyili Crosby. From 2019 to 2022, she was a member of the Eye Lounge artist collective in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work has been collected by Maricopa Community College in Arizona.