Mary Given Sheerer (1865–1954) was an American ceramicist, designer, and art educator, best known for her affiliation with the

Newcomb Pottery Newcomb Pottery, also called Newcomb College Pottery, was a brand of American Arts & Crafts pottery produced from 1895 to 1940. The company grew out of the pottery program at H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, the women's college now associated ...

project at

H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College was the coordinate women's college of Tulane University, located in New Orleans, in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It was founded by Josephine Louise Newcomb in 1886 in memory of her daughter. Newcomb was the fir ...

, now part of

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

Biography

Sheerer was born in

Covington, Kentucky Covington is a list of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Licking River (Kentucky), Licking rivers, across from Cincinnati to the north ...

in 1865. She studied art in Massachusetts, the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

, under

Hugh Breckenridge Hugh Henry Breckenridge (1870 – 1937), was an American painter and art instructor, who championed the artistic movements from impressionism to modernism. Breckenridge taught for more than forty years at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, be ...

at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

and graduated from the

Art Academy of Cincinnati The Art Academy of Cincinnati is a private college of art and design in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded as the McMicken School of Design in 1869, and was a department of the University of Cincinnati, and later in 1887, became the Art Academy ...

. While living in Covington in the early 1890s, she worked at

Rookwood Pottery Company Rookwood Pottery is an American ceramics company that was founded in 1880 and closed in 1967, before being revived in 2004. It was initially located in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has now returned there. In its heyda ...

. In 1894, Newcomb art faculty founders William Woodward and Ellsworth Woodward made Sheerer their first faculty hire. She became a full professor in 1903. From 1903 to 1909, Sheerer was appointed as professor of pottery design and supervisor of pottery decoration; her official title was Professor of Pottery and China Decoration. In 1909, Sheerer was promoted to Assistant Director of Pottery. Sheerer was a member of the Cincinnati Museum Association, Cincinnati Crafters Club
New Orleans Art Association
Cincinnati Women's Art Club, and the

American Federation of Arts The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is a nonprofit organization that creates art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishes exhibition catalogues, and develops education programs. The organization’s founding in 1909 ...

. Her works were displayed at the

Louisiana Purchase Exposition The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federa ...

in 1904, and the

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely s ...

held in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

in 1915. She was noted for designing glazes and pottery decoration. Sheerer was responsible for setting standards and guiding Newcomb Pottery's day-to-day production. She gave technical advice to Mississippi ceramicist Peter Anderson. Sheerer retired from the Newcomb faculty in 1931. Post Sheerer's retirement from

, she was awarded as a fellow of the

American Ceramic Society The American Ceramic Society (ACerS) is a nonprofit organization of professionals for the ceramics community, with a focus on scientific research, emerging technologies, and applications in which ceramic materials are an element. ACerS is located ...

on March 11, 1931. She died in December 1954 in Cincinnati and is buried at Highland Cemetery,

Fort Mitchell, Kentucky Fort Mitchell is a home rule-class city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 8,702 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Fort Mitchell was the site of one of seven Civil War forti ...

. The "Spanish Dagger Plate" is the product of collaboration between decorator, Mary Sheerer, and potter, Joseph Meyer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheerer, Mary Given 1865 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American women artists American potters Tulane University faculty American women potters American women ceramists 19th-century American ceramists People from Covington, Kentucky Ceramists from Kentucky Art Students League of New York alumni Art Academy of Cincinnati alumni American women academics Rookwood Pottery Company American art educators American women art educators 20th-century American ceramists