Pat Benard grew up in New Orleans but spent several years living in England and Wales. While there she was inspired to create her “Sheep Series”, including “Shepherd’s Pie” and “Sheep Dip”, which featured sheep on green plates or swimming in blue ones, with an occasional shepherd or sheep dog looking on. She gradually began to add more humans and leave off the sheep, taking inspiration from the paintings of Manet, Degas, Renoir, and other dead French artists. Although she uses clay primarily as a sculpture medium rather than craft material, she does like to include the dimension of “function” in some of her pieces. This results in lamps covered with tiny nudes, “nude” toothbrush holders, and her “Death of Marat” cheese dish (after a painting by the French neo-classical artist David), just for a few examples. Pat Benard left New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and currently resides in Spruce Pine, North Carolina.