Mary and Edwin Scheier, and Henry Varnum Poor and Peter Voulkos

Mary and Ed Scheier met in the mid-1930s and became artistic partners as well as life partners. In 1939 they set up their first production studio in Virginia with a focus on functional work and small figurines, and helped launch a studio pottery movement. In 1940, they won second prize in a Ceramic National Exhibition in New York, their first submission to a juried show. This was the first of a lifetime of prizes for their ceramics made both independently and together.

They taught at UNH from 1940 through 1968. By the late 1970s, due to severe arthritis in her hands, Mary had stopped making pottery, though Ed continued. In 1990, they were made Honorary Fellows of the American Craft Council, and in 1992 they were awarded the Pettee Medal at UNH. In 2007, they received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.

Early on in their careers, they were enamored of using local clay, whether residing in Tennessee, or Virginia, or New Hampshire. They shared an interest in the art of clay, as well as the production aspect of making functional pots, and it is easy to see why they would have been attracted to the work of other ground-breaking potters such as Henry Varnum Poor, a self-taught potter as were the Scheiers, and Peter Voulkos, who stretched the boundaries of what was acceptable in “art pottery.” Scheier pottery is available to be seen at the Dimond Library, in museum collections nationwide, and at the Currier Museum in Manchester, where their personal collection resides.