| |
| |
Phone: 508 385 3894
Fax: 508 385 4153 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
| Mary H. Peabody |
|
| |
Mary H. Peabody has enjoyed a close relationship with Scargo Pottery since her high school days. Having spent much time around the shop in her youth, Mary could often be found at the studio finding ways to accommodate clay to her own decorative drawing style. In 1973 she attended Mass. Art in Boston where she concentrated on drawing and painting with an emphasis on illustration. Upon returning to Cape Cod she continued exploring the clay medium in relation to her history and interest in two-dimensional design.
Throwing on the wheel was not Mary’s foremost draw, and she instead looked to the surface of the pot or slab built piece as her ground. Here decorative line and form could become dimensional through carving the pot’s surface. The art of carving is a time consuming and often frustrating affair. Careful attention to the subtleties of the manipulated surface can produce a finished pot mimicking the key elements of line, shading, highlight and form found in drawing.
|
 |
Clay however possesses its own unique and often unforgiving properties. Learning to adapt the rudiments of drawing to suit the characteristics of clay became Mary’s focus.
Mary spent many months intensively apprenticing at her father’s studio. She began adding other techniques to her approach, including the use of stains to depict her designs. Stains provide a more colorful outlet than carving, and allow the design to be rendered much like a painting. Another area of interest developed through the use of luster's. The lustering technique produces colors that have an opalescent and pearl-like quality. Applications of pure gold, silver and bronze are also possible. The procedure is laborious and even a bit dangerous if the appropriate precautions are not taken, and Mary has become one of the only members in the studio who has had the patience to master and consistently use the technique.
Through the years Mary has participated in group shows at the studio, including a retrospective of Scargo apprentices, and specialized shows such as the ‘teapot’ show which feature a number of her highly decorative pieces. She has continued to work on her own two dimensional painting and drawing, including participating in various workshops and painting seminars. She collaborates with her brother in law Kevin Nolan, as well as her father Harry, and apprentice Meden Parker who produce the majority of the thrown shapes she later decorates. Hanging wall plaques made of ceramic slabs also provide another ground for her compositions. Mary’s style is often described as whimsical, as seen through the characters of her narrative subject matter which often contains literary allusions to folk tales and popular stories. Yet she is also known for the simplicity of line which she employs in many of her figurative designs, whose classic profiles recall those of Greek and Roman statuary.
During the past few years Mary has added a new direction in learning the art of slab building. Through this three dimensional construction process, she has produced hand built ceramic bird houses of various sizes and styles, and learning more about the properties of various glazes with which she had been unfamiliar. She hopes to keep exploring the possibilities of slab work, while continuing her carving and illustration of vases, lamps, bowls and other thrown pieces. |
|
|
| |
|
|
