Mary Kring Risley

Mary Kring Risley (July 4, 1926 – January 13, 2000) 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. They married in 1951, the same week that Mary Kring graduated from Cranbrook 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.

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.

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.

"Since ideas are always at the mercy of the process, technique is a necessary involvement and a pleasurable challenge. This interest in method has guided me in my work in ceramics and has led me to experiment in other media, but it is with clay and its surfaces that I feel most comfortable."- Mary Kring Risley Wesleyan University lists an extensive collection of the theses and dissertations of students who Mary Kring Risley advised.

Publications