2003 Governors Arts Award

Lotte Jacobi Living Treasure Award Recipients
Edwin and Mary Scheier, potters, Green Valley, AZ

During the many productive years that they lived in New Hampshire (1940-1968), Edwin and Mary Scheier helped shape the revival of the American studio pottery movement. They arrived to teach in Durham in 1940 and soon thereafter achieved national and international recognition for their ceramic art. They also were energetic participants in the state's artistic community, and were members and exhibitors at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen's fairs. Although they now live in a retirement community in Arizona, the Scheiers continue to participate in the state's artistic community via the Internet, through their influence on former students, and through the significant presence of their artworks in New Hampshire collections.

In addition to the Currier Museum of Art, their artwork can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Cincinnati Museum of Art; Rhode Island School of Design; Cleveland Museum; the Baltimore Museum, and many others. They received the University of New Hampshire's Pettee Medal in 1992, and in 1993 the Currier Museum of Art mounted an exhibition of their art and published a comprehensive catalog of their work and life story. In 1999, they were the subjects of the film Four Hands, One Heart: Ed and Mary Scheier.

Last updated: January 15, 2015