Very rare for me to come across a piece by Mary and Edwin Scheier that is within my reach, but here this beautiful small footed bowl with coppery glaze I just stumbled upon in Maine, in mint condition---1950s I believe, from the period during which they were teaching at the University of New Hampshire. To my eye a pretty perfect thing.
More about the Scheiers, from Cranbrook Art Museum's website:
Mary and Edwin Scheier’s lifelong collaboration began in the 1930s when both worked for the federal Works Progress Administration. After spending a year as traveling puppeteers, they were given the opportunity to experiment with ceramics at the Tennessee Valley Authority Ceramic Laboratory and turned to pottery. Although they were largely self-taught, they were soon winning awards in national competitions. From 1940 to 1960, they taught at the University of New Hampshire, Durham.
Vessels like this one show Mary Scheier's mastery of the wheel and admiration for Japanese and Chinese ceramics traditions. Edwin Scheier was responsible for the glazing and, just a bit later, the figurative decoration that the Scheiers would become best known for.
3 13/16" in diameter x 3 1/16" tall. Signed (incised) on the base. My photos don't quite capture the reactive copper glaze, but it has a metallic sheen. Without a flaw whatsoever that I can see. Last photo is with 1940s Scheier mug, listed separately.
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