photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Ceramics artist in residence Reece Henderson is pictured in his studio at the Lawrence Arts Center on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

Everywhere his journey as an artist has led, Reece Henderson has had to grapple with anxiety – and that includes his latest stint at the Lawrence Arts Center.

“I struggle with anxiety, personally,” says Henderson, the Arts Center’s new ceramics artist in residence. “Like, social anxiety, but also big-picture anxiety. Environmental issues, the state of the world.”

He’d heard about Lawrence long before he applied for the residency, when he was an undergrad at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock – by coincidence, he’d met several artists who were from Lawrence and thought it was “such an amazing place.” But there were still the nerves a few weeks ago about coming here and getting established in that arts scene.

Anxiety “creates a lot of fear, which can be pretty detrimental sometimes,” Henderson says. But there’s another side to it, too. “I think also, in a weird way, it’s also been this great motivational force of fear being a good motivator sometimes. I would say that it’s forced me to encounter a lot of uncomfortable situations that I wouldn’t want to encounter, but then have it turn into really great opportunities.”

“Like, flying to here was something I was so nervous to do,” he says. “But it’s been such a wonderful experience, and that’s motivating me to continue to practice and try to persevere through the anxiety.”

Anxiety and how people manage it is what much of Henderson’s work is about, too.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

One of Reece Henderson’s sketches is pictured on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

The desks in his studio are covered in drawings – some realistically rendered, like a carefully detailed dodo bird, but others cartoonish, like several people protruding from tree stumps. He sees stylized forms like those found in cartoons as an “easy access point” to his artwork, “where it’s not so scary or intimidating to get into a work that’s talking about anxiety or death or hard topics.”

“For someone that has a lot of anxiety, I think it’s important to talk about big issues,” he says. “But for me, sometimes, maybe just a little gentle push into it is nice.”

Some of his images are meant to convey loss and tragedy. One motif he’s used a lot is tree stumps: “I’ve used that as a symbol of a life cut short, or of deforestation – things of that nature.”

But he tries to balance that out with something positive.

Sometimes, that means things that grow and regenerate. “Oftentimes I’ve included flowers and perennials that come back every year to have that balance of life and death and renewed forms,” Henderson says.

Other times, it’s things that provide comfort.

In a show for his master’s thesis, he created anxiety-inducing objects, but also good-luck charms that provide “personal mental protection,” such as a rabbit’s foot and a wishbone. These objects were much larger than the stressful ones, to emphasize the “personal comforts that can ease these burdens of anxiety.”

“That’s kind of where I’m trying to work now, is how to depict those levels of comfort, anxiousness, worry and hope,” Henderson says.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Reece Henderson’s sketches are pictured on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

For his yearlong project at the Arts Center, Henderson is hoping to create an interactive piece that’s like a “meditative garden” for people to walk through. On the walls, there will be scenes like the ones he’s sketching now, but sculpted from clay slabs, to create “a mural made of ceramic material.” In the center of the room will be more 3-D sculpted work, and Henderson hopes to incorporate woodworking and wooden cutout shapes, modeled after stage props.

“I’m wanting to create a scene that invites the viewer to walk around the work and explore and interact with pieces that are talking about anxiety at their own pace,” Henderson says.

Starting next month, Henderson and the Arts Center’s printmaking resident, Hibiki Miyazaki, will be teaching classes on their specialties, and Henderson’s will focus on both wall-mounted and freestanding artwork. One of Henderson’s classes is called “Two Legs to Stand On,” where participants will create ceramic sculptures that stand on legs, and the other, called “Hanging Around with Wall Hangings,” will focus on techniques specific to that kind of art. (You can find more information on these at lawrenceartscenter.org/class-catalog.)

Henderson has taught before as a graduate student, and he specifically picked his master’s program at Ohio University because he’d get to work with students. He sees teaching as a kind of “knowledge trade,” where everyone learns “practical skill-set knowledge, but also anecdotal life-experience knowledge.”

“I’ve found that teaching is such a wonderful way to connect with others, learn about their experiences through life, and has influenced my own practice in so many ways,” Henderson says.

It’s another chance to face and defeat his anxieties, too.

“Teaching forces me to face that head-on,” he says, “which is really rewarding.”

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Reece Henderson’s sketches are pictured on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.

photo by: Sylas May/Journal-World

Reece Henderson’s sketches are pictured on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.