Mary McKenzie

Toronto-based artist Mary McKenzie graduated from the Ceramics Program at Sheridan College, where she received the Gardiner Museum Award. She has participated in numerous exhibitions including Boxed In at The Rooms, Newfoundland; Hot Mud: Emerging Canadian Ceramic Artists at the Burlington Art Centre; and War: Light Within / After Darkness at the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo.

Mary McKenzie’s functional pieces are food and dishwasher safe, unless otherwise stated in the case of some of her decorative bowls. McKenzie’s drawings are vessel specific, making each unique, especially in her Landscape and Maple Leaf Series. She likes to change it up using a variety of cone six white to red clays, depending on the piece. She may use one or more throwing or hand-building techniques or a combination of these. For example, when throwing a simple cylinder for her tea bowls, she squeezes and pinches to emulate the undulating aspect of landscape.