Leza McVey

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Leza Marie McVey (née Sullivan) (1907–1984) was an innovative American ceramist and weaver.

McVey studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art (1927–1932) and at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center (1943–1944).[1] In 1932, she married the sculptor William Mozart McVey, and from 1935 to 1947,[2] she worked as a ceramist in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.[1] William accepted a teaching position at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1947, and there she met the Finnish artist Maija Grotell and became friends with the Japanese-American artist Toshiko Takaezu who studied at the Cranbrook Academy from 1951 to 1954.[2] In 1953, McVey returned to her native city of Cleveland and established her studio in the suburb of Pepper Pike, Ohio.[1]

McVey's large-scaled, biomorphic, asymmetrical work is said to reflect her dissatisfaction with wheel-thrown pieces and to have led the way for modern ceramic art in the United States.[1][2] Influenced by surrealism, her sculptural stoneware and porcelain works embody the natural, organic form.[2] In 1965, the Cleveland Institute of Art presented a major retrospective of her work that included seventy-five large scale sculptures or what she called "ceramic forms."[3] By 1979 McVey's production slowed due to her failing eyesight.

Collections containing work

McVey's work may be found in several private, corporate, and public collections:

Eidelberg, Martin P., The Ceramic Forms of Leza McVey. Hudson, New York: Philmark Publishers, 2002.

References
  1. Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G., eds. (1995). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century. New York and London: Garland Publishing. pp. 375. ISBN 0824060490.
  2. "Ceramics Today - Leza Marie McVey". www.ceramicstoday.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  3. Janet., Koplos (2010). Makers : a history of American studio craft. Metcalf, Bruce, 1949-, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807834138. OCLC 658203695.
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