Butler County

Ceramics

Early memories of her mother making hand-built ceramic pieces to date to local charity fundraisers helped shape Mary Brown’s interest in pottery and art. As a young girl, she would anxiously wait for the ceramic kiln to cool so they could open it and see the various results. That same excitement is visible in Mary’s work today – as she experiments with stoneware and micaceous clay, and raku and pit firing. While the process is long, her micaceous cooking vessels can take up to 5 hours just to sculpt, she says she has so much fun that she doesn’t measure the time.

Mary has been a lifelong student, taking numerous arts, drawing, and painting classes, and most recently, wheel-throwing from fellow Black Belt Treasures artist Cynthia Dahlstrom. Her talents are wide; Mary also enjoys sewing, carving gourds, basket weaving, watercolor painting, and chair caning. But her passion is clay. She enjoys the rewarding process of taking a grey or red lump of raw clay and seeing it come to life. She loves the excitement and result of the flames during firing.

Her micaceous clay cooking vessels are hand built from coils, sanded, and scraped until smooth. She finishes the surface by burnishing (rubbing the surface with a hard tool) four layers of slip – a long but rewarding process. Once these vessels leave her hands, they continue to evolve over the life of the piece, changing color and maturing with each use – continuing to inspire as her mother inspired her.

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Mica Bread Bowl Mary Brown, bread bowl, bowl, Black Belt, mica bread bowl
Mica Bread Bowl Price: $57.00
Availability: In Stock
Item #: 4491 -

Mary Brown- Mica Bread Bowl 7.5"x2.5"Mary Brown used the ancient Apache coiling and scraping method to make this handmade Clay Cooking Vessel, which is stove top, oven, and microwave safe.