Mary Wondrausch

Mary Wondrausch OBE (born 17 December 1923, Chelsea) is an English artist, potter, historian and writer.^[1] She trained as a potter at Farnham School of Art, latterly West Surrey College of Art and Design.

She is an honorary fellow of the Craft Potters' Association and has work in the V&A Museum collection. She was awarded the OBE for services to the Arts in 2000.^[2] 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, near Guildford, Surrey.^[3]

Portrait of Wondrausch

Mary Wondrausch agreed to sit for Jon Edgar for a portrait work using clay quarried from the foundations of her house at Brickfields. This forms part of the Compton Triptych^[4] unveiled at the Human Clay exhibition, University of Surrey in November 2011.

Works in public collections

Dead Magpie (1956) mixed media on board. Collection of Surrey County Council^[5]

Selected writings

• Mary Wondrausch on Slipware (1986; second edition 2001; publisher; A&C Black - 1st ed. ISBN 978-0-7136-2813-5. 2nd ed. ISBN 0-7136-2813-8)
• Brickfields: My Life at Brickfields As a Potter, Painter, Gardener, Writer and Cook (2004; ISBN 0-9548237-0-2)
• 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

• Reading University Museum of English Rural Life archive film (2006)
• 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

1. Brickfields : My Life at Brickfields As a Potter, Painter, Gardener, Writer and Cook (2004)ISBN 0-9548237-0-2
2. OBE award in The Independent
3. Mary Wondrausch pottery
4. http://www.surrey.ac.uk/arts/visualarts/exhibitions%20and%20events/the_human_clay_jon_edgar.htm
5. http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dead-magpie-12717 image on BBC archive