Mary Spring
Mary has been working in clay on and off for a number of years. She started out in 1970, right after high school, at California State University at Sacramento. She continued to do clay, even after her four children were born. She often worked in clay while she took care of her eldest son.
     
At that time, they lived on the northern most California coastline in the middle of the redwoods. She would often take him with her when she took local pottery classes, which focused on high fired functional ware. She created both hand built and wheel thrown vessels.
         
     
 
Later, Mary had her second son and then moved to the Ozarks soon afterward. Eventually, the years went by and she had two daughters. After the birth of her girls she decided to continue her studies at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She majored in Art with an emphasis in drawing, painting, and pottery. Of course, clay soon became her main focus. Mary was exposed to raku firing at this time. She loved the spontaneity and the element of surprise that is involved in each and every raku firing. She loved being so close to the glowing hot pots, pulling them out of the kiln, watching them catch fire in the reduction chamber, and looking at the results almost immediately after the firing. Raku is the way to go if you find it hard to wait around to see the results of your firing.    
       
                     
While she was at the university, she was able to build a house and a pottery studio in Kingston, Arkansas. Mary, her children, and an elderly couple who lived nearby worked hard to create their new home. Then, one frozen February morning, her best friend introduced her to Terra Studios. She was amazed by what a magical place it was. She thought she had died and gone to pottery heaven. Mary was soon hired to work in the pottery.
  Mary has lived and created artwork at Terra’s pottery studio for seven years. She throws on the wheel and hand builds and she both high fires and raku fires her ware. Some of her children have also learned how to work in clay. Her eldest daughter has become quite a clay artist herself, while pursuing a major in Journalism at the University of Arkansas. Mary has said that she could never imagine a life without clay. You can see some of her wonderful vessels in Terra’s pottery gallery.  
           

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