Mary Olson Clay Works

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Two Little Birds & Two Little Brooms

I currently show my work at the Gallery Shop within Historic Santa Fe Foundation’s El Zaguán Gallery. They kindly invited me to team with the wonderful artist and broom maker Julia Tait Dickenson for a workshop we are calling Two Little Birds & Two Little Brooms. El Zaguán is a magical place. Come join us.

Broom Making Workshop
Taught by Julia Tait Dickenson & Mary Olson

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2024, 1-4 PM
AT EL ZAGUÁN, 545 CANYON ROAD | $120 PER PERSON

Click here to go to the event page on Historic Santa Fe’s El Zaguán website.

Irene’s Memorial Birds

My husband Matthew and his mother Irene, wearing her beloved French beret, on the last of many stays in the Dordogne region of France. They are seated outside the Font-de-Gaume cave, a UNESCO World Heritage site, after seeing the ancient paintings within.
Irene’s husband Ron Saroff is remembered in the garden outside the gîte they stayed in for 2 decades, in Viralet, France. After Irene died in July of 2023 Matthew’s sister Maude asked me to make an Irene bird to join Rons’ in the garden. I loved the project!
…and then my sister-in-law Maude had a remarkable idea. She asks: “would you like to make an Irene bird for each of Irene’s seven children?”
I was enthralled to tackle the challenge of making a pack of birds in her honor. Holding this Irene bird in the ivy reminds me of the love this commission represents. 
Photographer Jackie Mathey captures the delight among this group of birds.
The social side of life resonates as the birds are gathered in a gaggle.

Let me share my process in making the birds:
The body, head, skirt and beret are thrown on the potter’s wheel and then paddled and altered. Gesture, gaze and character are considered in assembly. Textures are a vital piece where I weave nature (corn cobs, seed pods, star anise etc.) onto slab-built wings and tail. Props such as the beret bring the spirit of Irene and her love of France to the bird with a human dimension.

Assembling all the pieces is where the healing and mourning began. Quiet time in the studio with busy hands, tools and clay gave me solace to remember Irene — and also my own mother, and my father-in-law. It was a gift to have the space to process the loss of all three parents.

Three Irene birds pose for Jackie’s camera. Each dons a variation on the beret and her personality.

Once the birds were fired, but before they found their new homes,  I put them into multiple arrangements. Chatting, quiet, lost in their own thoughts… in nature with flowers from our garden. 

The aerial perspective leaves me with a sense of family and of connection to our loved one, Irene. Knowing the birds were heading out to Texas, Arizona, Oregon, Maryland, Massachusetts, Washington and California (one remaining in New Mexico) brought joy. But nice as well to see the abstraction of bodies, wings, tails and berets from above. 

I will remember the original complete group (11 in all). 
This bird basks in the fall plumbago foliage by my studio. Right at HOME. The project of Irene’s birds left me brimming with ideas for the next body of work. I am thinking of a new flock where interactions and expressions embody the power of love: Sister relationships, dear friendships and community. I see clay birds set up in an installation that brings in other ceramic forms such as plant pots, story platters, baskets and vases. 

Japanese Pottery Studies

In celebration of my passage from full-time art teaching to immersing in clay in my studio, I took an international educational trip to JAPAN, June 9-28, 2023.
The tour had been postponed for two years due to travel restrictions with Covid. Two dear friends who are fellow ceramic artists went too.

Ceramic traditions from ancient to contemporary were the focus, along with the cultural connections. A rare trip that is influencing my new clay work.

Reverberations from Japan

The clay colleagues who joined iCAN’s (International Ceramic Artists Network) first ever EXPLORING JAPANESE CERAMICS tour June of 2023 included Kate Inskeep and Jane Dillon. Here you also see our Ikebana masters. I bet you feel our joy and excitement!

iCAN hired Esprit Travel and Tours who enlisted Matt Schulz and Keiko Kamei (on the far right) as tour leaders. Guest expert Robert Yellin took us to many artist studios, galleries and homes in the three ancient kiln sites of Tamba, Bizen and Shigaraki.

Shimenawa is a welcome symbol, a sacred shinto rope of rice straw. The text on the wooden board reads Fortune comes to a merry home!

Nishihata Tadashi hosted us kindly in Tamba where we also met his daughter Nishihata Haruna. I fell in love with Haruna’s large bowl of Mama with Chicks.

Clay holds a place of deep respect, honor and history in Japan. Experiencing their reverence for this material was impressive. The artists received us with open arms in their studios, homes and galleries. We began in the kiln yard, discussing the wood fired kilns (both noborigama and anagama style).

In the pottery region of Shigaraki we met master potters Takahashi Rakusai V and daughter Takahashi Yoshiko, artists in a long line of masters. They welcomed us into their home for matcha and mochi. The homemade treat was served on a miniature cake stand and, of course, the glorious tea bowls were made by potters in their family.

I was inspired, once back home, to make a series of small raised plates with skirts in my own style of earthenware with white slip and floral drawings, referring to the hydrangeas we saw blooming throughout Kyoto this summer.

I spotted a lidded dish with two ducks in a studio in the Bizen Pottery Village, by Yokoyama Shinichi. Once home, I made my own ducks in a new Teapot Altar Series to honor my dear friend Maia.

Pairs of SHISA creatures (by Furutani Kazuya from Shiga Prefecture) greeted us here and throughout Japan. At home I’ve had a quail couple perched on the coyote fence to welcome visitors to my studio. With new focus on my Shisa-like quail, and inspired by the wall and flower vases we saw, I’ve added a group of plant pots that attach to the fence, decked out in clay skirts.

Noborigama kiln, Tamba, Japan.

I am forever grateful for this journey to Japan and I am eager to share my new work in the coming year.

El Zaguán Exhibit

A giant thank you to all who came to support our Art Exhibit at El Zaguán Gallery in December 2022.
40 Years of Friendship
Wendy Fay’s paintings and my clay work brought many people together and warmed our hearts and creative spirit. Sales were strong and we are currently showing our work in El Zaguán gift shop. Click here to see slides of the show (will open a YouTube window).