Leza McVey

Leza Marie McVey (née Sullivan; 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio – 1984) was an 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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