Mary Kring Risley


Mary Kring Risley was an American ceramicist. She published The ceramic industry in the Philippines based on her work in the Philippines with the Foreign Service. After returning to the United States, Risley became a leading figure in the Wesleyan Potters Guild, teaching there and at Wesleyan University. She and her husband John Risley were influential in the postwar American craft movement, which emphasized both the functional and artistic qualities of objects.

Early life and education

Mary Kring earned a B.A. in Drawing and Painting from the University of Michigan in 1948. She then attended Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. There she met her future husband, artist John Risley. They married in 1951, the same week that Mary Kring graduated from Cranbrook with her MFA in Ceramics.

Career

For their honeymoon, the Risleys went to the Philippines on a three-year placement with the Foreign Service. This project also included Cranbrook textile designers
and Marianne Strengell, and furniture designer. The Risleys worked for the State Department in the Philippines and later in Taiwan, connecting local craft industries with contemporary design.
In 1952, Mary Kring Risley was appointed by the United Nations Technical Assistance Program to work with the Government of the Philippines as a ceramics expert on a ten-month project. Goals of this project included expansion of small-scale potteries, improvement of equipment, a trainee program, and the development of clays and glazes. Based on her work, she published The ceramic industry in the Philippines.
After returning to the United States, the Risleys settled in Middletown, Connecticut. There they rebuilt and furnished a house in which almost everything was handmade. John Risley taught at Wesleyan University from 1954 to 1988.
Mary Kring Risley was key in establishing the Wesleyan Potters Guild, a craft school and non-profit cooperative guild in Middletown Connecticut. She became the instructor at Wesleyan Potters in 1953.
She was also an instructor at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 1953.
Mary Kring Risley was an adjunct associate professor of art at Wesleyan University. Wesleyan University lists an extensive collection of the theses and dissertations of students who Mary Kring Risley advised.

Publications

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