Mary Wondrausch (17 December 1923 – 26 December 2016) was an English artist, potter, historian and writer, born in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. She trained as a potter at Farnham School of Art, latterly

West Surrey College of Art and Design Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College (SIAD) was an art college in the United Kingdom from 1994 to 2005. It was formed from the merger of West Surrey College of Art and Design (1969–1995) and Epsom School of Art and Design (1893� ...

. She was an honorary fellow of the

Craft Potters Association The Craft Potters Association (CPA) is an association of potters formed in 1958 in London. It has two wholly owned operating companies: Craftsmen Potters Trading Company Ltd and Ceramic Review Publishing Ltd. It owns a shop and gallery, the Con ...

and has work in the

V&A Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

collection. She was awarded the OBE for services to the Arts in 2000. Her primary interest is continental peasant art. Originally training as a watercolor artist, she later became interested in ceramics and opened her own pottery workshop in 1974. Inspired by 17th-century English slipware and Eastern European designs, such influences have informed her own work. She is known for lettering and exuberant use of colour. Her Brickfields pottery is in

Compton Compton may refer to: Places Canada * Compton (electoral district), a former Quebec federal electoral district * Compton (provincial electoral district), a former Quebec provincial electoral district now part of Mégantic-Compton * Compton, Que ...

, near Guildford, Surrey, where she moved in 1955 and subsequently raised three children.

Portrait of Wondrausch

Mary Wondrausch agreed to sit for

Jon Edgar Jon Edgar is a British sculptor of the Frink School. Improvisation is an important part of his reductive working process and developed from the additive working process of Alan Thornhill. Final works are often autobiographical, perhaps referenc ...

for a portrait work using clay quarried from the foundations of her house at Brickfields. This forms part of the ''

Compton Triptych image:Compton-triptych-2011-terracotta-sculptor-Jon-Edgar.jpg, 300px, ''Compton Triptych'' The Compton Triptych comprises three terracotta portrait heads, plinthed together, which celebrates the parish of Compton, Guildford, and the diverse figures ...

'' unveiled at the ''Human Clay'' exhibition,

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

in November 2011. Wondrausch and her house in Surrey, including the artist's hand-stencilled walls, hand-painted furniture, and ceramics collection, were photographed by Liesa Siegelman for World of Interiors in May 1988 to accompany an autobiographic piece by Wandrausch. That article was reprinted by the magazine in 2018.

Works in public collections

Dead Magpie (1956) mixed media on board. Collection of Surrey County CouncilArt UK
image on BBC archive

Selected writings

* ''Mary Wondrausch on Slipware'' (1986; second edition 2001; publisher; A&C Black - 1st ed. . 2nd ed. ) * ''Brickfields: My Life at Brickfields As a Potter, Painter, Gardener, Writer and Cook'' (2004; ) * Hartley, Dorothy Rosaman (1893–1985) by Mary Wondrausch; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004

Contributions to symposia

* POTTED CHAR Mary Wondrausch (p. 227-234) SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 1994 PROCEEDINGS: Studies in Foods and Dishes at Risk. Edited by Harlan Walker; 245 pages.(Acanthus) *SPICE CONTAINERS AND SALT CONTAINERS Mary Wondrausch (p. 285-289) OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY 1992 PROCEEDINGS Studies of Flavourings - Ancient and Modern. Edited by Harlan Walker; 294 pages.(Acanthus)

External links

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081210174633/http://www.media.uwe.ac.uk/nevac/video.htm National Electronic and Video Archive of the Crafts; Wondrausch film and audio interview listings
RECORDING THE CRAFTS: CERAMICS: MARY WONDRAUSCH (1996) University of West of England, Producer: Mike Hughes BFI

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wondrausch, Mary 1923 births 2016 deaths English potters Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Chelsea, London People from the Borough of Guildford Women potters British women ceramicists