Mary Yancey

Mary Yancey Hodgdon (1902–1992) was a ceramic artist and designer from Alabama who worked in Louisiana, Ohio, Iowa, Massachusetts, and California. Along with Paul Cox, she co-founded an art pottery outreach program at Iowa State College that sold thousands of ceramic wares across the country.

Biography Born Mary Lanier Yancey in 1902, she grew up in Birmingham, Alabama until moving to Louisiana around 1919. She enrolled in Newcomb College, a women's liberal arts institution that had a strong program in art and design. She participated in the Newcomb Pottery program, which taught students ceramic design and allowed them to sell their wares for-profit. The style of her ceramics, even after leaving the college, was similar to the work that was created under the Newcomb Pottery program. She won multiple prizes during her studies and graduated in 1922 with a bachelor's degree in design.

After graduation, Mary Yancey moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and taught ceramics and jewelry to high school students until 1924. She was then hired by Iowa State College in the ceramic engineering department to teach modeled pottery. While at Iowa State College, Yancey and department head Paul Cox created an ISC art pottery program modeled after Newcomb's own.

In 1930, Yancey married Frank Hodgdon, a former Iowa State College student, and moved to Massachusetts. She continued to produce pottery independently and founded Clay Craft Studios in 1931. In 1933, she became a faculty member of Fullerton Junior College, a position she held until retirement in 1962. Mary Yancey left Iowa State College in 1930 and the art pottery program halted soon after. Paul Cox lost administrative support for the program fully in 1932 and the Great Depression made sales plummet even before then. Yancey's independent ceramics after her time at Iowa State College retained a similar style.