Artists Statement

'To imagine myself living in an ancient culture has always been an inspiration in my artwork.'

The art images I make are my interpretation of artistic time travel, of living in ancient cultures that still speak to me, of creating through their forms, styles, and techniques. Through a visual dialogue between old and new technologies, rough and smooth surfaces, dark and light personalities, I try to bring the past and the present together.

My ceramic vessels and sculpture draw on meaningful aesthetic roots of certain ancient artistic traditions: Cycladic, Egyptian, Mayan, Jomon, and Inuit. At the same time, I try to create a personal vocabulary of forms and surfaces. Most of my expertise in using ancient ceramic techniques comes from personal experimentation, using my own limited studio facilities. I like to put myself into the state of mind of someone who faces only a lump of clay, simple tools, and a pile of sticks and leaves for firing.

Gallery Affiliations

Technical Information

I use both high and low-fire clays to make my work. Most of the forming is handbuilt using pinching, coils, slabs and my own press-molds. I sometimes coat my work with terra sigillata or colored slips but never use glaze as I don't plan to fire it high enough to melt glaze.

I burnish or polish the sculpture or vessel with a stone, bisque fire it in an electric kiln at about cone 010 or 08 and then smoke fire patterns on it using different resist methods. The smokefiring is usually accomplished by making a fire in a ring of house bricks using dry pine straw, oak leaves, and shredded newspaper. I find it necessary to also use an old discarded lid from a barbecue cooker, to keep from setting the woods on fire, and a cookie sheet to fan the fire.

After the pieces are cooled-to-touch I wash them to remove soot and resist, then wax them with acrylic floor wax.

Background and History

Born. Durante, OK, USA, 1943

I hold a BFA in ceramics from the University of Tulsa, and have independently studied primitive pottery-making methods for thirty years. Over the years I have used my artistic talents in book illustration, commercial art, and advertising, as well as ceramics.

At present I am a full-time, studio artist. Since 1996 the focus of my work has been on creating works in clay, which have been exhibited in public and private art centers and galleries, throughout the Southeast USA.

Education in the Arts:
1961 University of the Philippines, Art History, Painting
1962 - 64 Oklahoma State University, Painting and Ceramics
1971 University of Tulsa, BFA in Ceramics
1974 - 76 Rhode Island College, Graduate Program in Art Education

Solo Exhibitions

1999 - Mysteries and Magic - ceremonial vessels - Window On Gaines Gallery Tallahassee, FL
2003 - Other Places Other Times - A Rediscovery of Ourselves - 621 Gallery of Tallahassee, Fl

Two Artists Exhibitions
1997 - Waiting to Transcend - M.Donahue, E.West. LeMoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee,FL
2000 - Evoking Encounters - ceremonial vessels by M. Donahue, photos B.Press. Mount Dora Center for the Arts, Mount Dora, FL
2000 – Sea Vision – Mary Donahue, Paul Walker, Artzania Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2001 - Ornamental Spirit - Mary Donahue, Sam Nicely, Greig Hubbart, Colquitt County Art Center, Moultie, Georgia
2002 - Illuminations - Lighted Ceramic Sculpture & Spirit Vessels, M Donahue & Y Tucker, Le Moyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee, Florida
2005 – Illuminations – Mind and Spirit – M. Donahue, M.Fletcher – Aurora Gallery, Annapolis, MD

Group Exhibitions

2012 – Spring Exhibition, Signature Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2012 – South Woodstock Art Fair, Tallahassee, FL
2012 - Artists in the Garden, Tallahassee Nursery Garden Fair, Tallahassee, FL

2011 - Personal Papers, Paper Guild of the FSU Artist League, Museum of Fine Arts, FSU, Tallahassee, FL
2011 - Summer Annual - Artists League FSU Art Museum, , Tallahassee, FL
2011 - Artists in the Garden, Tallahassee Nursery Garden Fair, Tallahassee, FL
2011 - LeMoyne Center for the Arts, Invitational, Holiday Exhibit, Tallahassee, FL
2011 - Fire and Fiber, Big Bend Pottery Guild & Weavers, 2010 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL

2010 - FSU Artist League, Museum of Fine Arts, , Tallahassee, FL
2010 - Summer Annual - Artists League FSU Art Museum, , Tallahassee, FL
2010 – Art and Antiques, Juried Fair - Artists League FSU Art Museum, , Tallahassee, FL
2010 - LeMoyne Center for the Arts, Invitational, Tallahassee, FL

2009 - Summer Annual - Artists League FSU Art Museum, Tallahassee, FL
2009- Alabama Clay Conference, Members Show, Mobile, AL
2009 – Art and Antiques, Juried Fair - Artists League FSU Art Museum, , Tallahassee, FL
2008 - Artists in the Garden, Tallahassee Nursery Garden Fair, Tallahassee, FL
2008 – Synergie, Juried exhibition, Artists League FSU, Claud Pepper Museum, Tallahassee, FL
2008- Alabama Clay Conference, Members Show, Troy University, Troy, AL
2007 – Museum of Fine Arts, FSU, Artist League Invitational, Tallahassee, FL

2006 - Artist League Museum of Fine Arts FSU, Valdosta Art Center, Valdosta, GA
2005 – Psychological Self Portrait, Cultural Resources Com., Tallahassee City Hall Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2005– Synergie, Artists League FSU Art Museum, Tallahassee Airport Gallery,Tallahassee, FL
2005 – Illuminations – Mind and Spirit – Mary Donahue, M Fletcher, Aurora Gallery, Annapolis, MD
2004 – Earth, Wind, Fire and Water, FSU Artists League Show,Gadsden Art Center, Quincy, FL
2004 - Florida Craftsmen 50th Anniversary Traveling Exhibition , University of Florida Gallery, Gainville, FL
2004 - LeMoyne Art Foundation 40th Anniversary Exhibition, Tallahassee, FL
2004 - Juried Fair - Prize for excellence.Mount Dora Center for the Arts, Mount Dora, FL,
2004 - Chain of Parks, Art Fair, Second Prize LeMoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee, Florida
2004 – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, 6 Women Artists, Group Showing, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL
2004- Florida Craftsmen 50th Anniversary Traveling Exhibition , Gadsden Art Center, Quincy, FL
2004 - LeMoyne Art Foundation , Florida by Florida Artists, Invitational ,Tallahassee, FL

2003 - Wonder, The Human Condition - Invitational, LeMoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee
2003 - Florida Craftsmen 50th Anniversary Traveling Exhibition ,DeLand Museum of Art
2003 - Art Fair - FSU Art Museum , members show Artists League FSU Art Museum , Tallahassee, FL
2002 - Florida Craftsmen Invitational, Northern Spectrum, Gadsden County Art Center, Quincy
2001 - Chain of Parks, Art Fair, Second Prize LeMoyne Art Foundation, Tallahassee,
2001 - Clay Rocks - state wide ceramics show Florida Craftsmen Inc., St. Pertersburg
2000 - Big Shoe Show - St. Louis City Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
1999 - Contemporary Craft/Art of North Florida, FAM University, Tallahassee, FL

Publications & Art Related Activities