Mary Alward

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Mary creates beautiful pottery. As a newer artist she has had so much competition from artists in her area, who have mastered their skill and have monopolized the market, she was looking for an outlet out of her area. We wanted to give her opportunity to show and sell her work at our Gallery. Her work is excellent and she has a nice variety of pieces. She creates bowls, plates, and mug ceramics and porcelain. Her task is to create something from soil that is decorated with the ethos of its environment. She creates usable items with a certain theme she likes to call a “collection of memories”. Her themed pottery can be valued throughout generations as a worthy endeavor and labor of love. Mary’s story is a fun story, which most of our artists have and enjoy telling. Her mother was an antique dealer using fine china for her daily tea. Each piece had its own story. Being more of an outdoor child, Mary includes flowing colors,  symmetrical beauty and unpredictable designs. That is the uniqueness we carry through our whole gallery. Bringing together the elements of tradition and nature is found in many of her pieces and much other artwork in the Gallery. She is a retired instructor of 32 years. After her retirement she learned from Peggy Louden, a nationally recognized ceramicist, inputting her new knowledge into a delightful selection of form and shapes masterfully compounded into bowls, cups, deco pieces, and plates. Mary chose Two Rivers Art Gallery & Gift shop due to the encouragement of Christy Dugger, our Assistant Director. She has been inspired by the mutual respect and supporting attitude the administration has for every one of their 90 artists and their own fun community, calling the Gallery their “Happy Place”. She is excited to join us and we are excited to have her as one of our artists.