Mary Scheier (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Mary Goldsmith; May 9, 1908 – May 14, 2007) was a noted

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ceramicist, and the wife and artistic partner of

Edwin Scheier Edwin Scheier (November 11, 1910 – April 20, 2008) was an American artist, best known for his ceramics (art), ceramic works with his wife, Mary Scheier. Early life Edwin Scheier was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York, to a Jewish Ger ...

Career

Born Mary Goldsmith in

Salem, Virginia Salem is an independent city in the U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,346. It is the county seat of Roanoke County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combine ...

, she moved to

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in 1925 and studied art at 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 ...

, the

Grand Central School of Art The Grand Central School of Art was an American art school in New York City, founded in 1922 by the painters Edmund Greacen, Walter Leighton Clark and John Singer Sargent. It closed in 1944. History The school was established and run by the Gra ...

and the

New York School of Fine and Applied Arts The Parsons School of Design is a private art and design college under The New School located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhattan art ...

.Heydarpour, Roj
Mary Scheier, 99, Creator of Elegant Pottery, Is Dead.
'

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'', May 19, 2007. Accessed May 19, 2007. After a brief

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career in

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, she returned to Virginia and married Edwin Scheier in August 1937. She was head of a WPA gallery at

Big Stone Gap, Virginia Big Stone Gap is a town in Wise County, Virginia, United States. The town was economically centered around the coal industry for much of its early development. The population was 5,254 at the 2020 census. History The community was formerly kn ...

when they met during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. In 1939, the Scheiers set up their first studio, ''Hillcrock Pottery'', in Glade Spring, VA, making small sculptures and functional pottery using local clays. In 1940, they moved to

Durham, New Hampshire Durham is a New England town, town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 ...

, and both taught at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

until 1968. She was an Artist-in-Residence at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, during the 1940s and 1950s. Sharing her husband's campus studio, Mary also replaced her husband when he served in the military during the Second World War. They then moved to the Mexican

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. Mary stopped producing pottery in the 1960s, when arthritis and health conditions prevented her from continuing. They finally moved to

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. She died in

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. Her work is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the American Craft Museum and the University of New Hampshire Special Collections. Mary died just five days after celebrating her 99th birthday and after 69 years of marriage to Edwin.

Style

Mary was well known for her skills in creating thin walled thrown vessels. Combining her products with Edwin's applied designs and custom created glazes gained the couple wide recognition. She also created pieces that resembled pottery from the Sung dynasty, an era she admired. Mary focused on themes concerning primitive and biblical imagery, including topics of "human behaviour from Adam and Eve, birth, temptation to protection, motherhood and coupling with some of the designs showing people within people, womb-like or within animals."

Documentary

Mary Goldsmith and husband Scheier were the subjects of Ken Browne's film ''Four Hands, One Heart'', which aired repeatedly on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

stations.Lebow, Edward. January 11, 200
Four Hands One Heart.
''Phoenix New Times'' Goldsmith, with Scheier, was also the subject of a chapter of Lyndel King's 1988 book, "American Studio Ceramics: 1920-1950" published by the University Art Gallery at the University of Minnesota.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheier, Mary 1908 births 2007 deaths Artists from Roanoke, Virginia Artists from New York City University of New Hampshire faculty Art Students League of New York alumni Grand Central School of Art alumni Parsons School of Design alumni Federal Art Project artists 20th-century American sculptors People from Green Valley, Arizona People from Salem, Virginia Sculptors from New York (state) 20th-century American ceramists