Mary Given Sheerer

Sheerer was born in Covington, Kentucky in 1865.^[2] She studied art in Massachusetts, the Art Students League of New York, under Hugh Breckenridge at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from the Art Academy of Cincinnati.^[3][4] While living in Covington in the early 1890s, she worked at Rookwood Pottery Company.^[2] In 1894, Newcomb art faculty founders William Woodward and Ellsworth Woodward made Sheerer their first faculty hire.^[4] She became a full professor in 1903.^[2] From 1903 to 1909, Sheerer was appointed as professor of pottery design and supervisor of pottery decoration; her official title was Professor of Pottery and China Decoration. In 1909, Sheerer was promoted to Assistant Director of Pottery.^[5] Sheerer was a member of the Cincinnati Museum Association, Cincinnati Crafters Club, New Orleans Art Association, Cincinnati Women's Art Club, and the American Federation of Arts.^[6] Her works were displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904, and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco in 1915.^[2][6] She was noted for designing glazes and pottery decoration.^[7]

Sheerer was responsible for setting standards and guiding Newcomb Pottery's day-to-day production.^[8]

She gave technical advice to Mississippi ceramicist Peter Anderson.^[9]

Sheerer retired from the Newcomb faculty in 1931.^[3] Post Sheerer's retirement from Newcomb Pottery, she was awarded as a fellow of the American Ceramic Society on March 11, 1931.^[10] She died in December 1954 in Cincinnati and is buried at Highland Cemetery, Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.^[2]

The "Spanish Dagger Plate" is the product of collaboration between decorator, Mary Sheerer, and potter, Joseph Meyer.^[11]