Leza McVey

Leza Marie McVey (1907–1984) was an American ceramist and weaver. She is known for her large hand-built organic forms.

Biography
McVey née Sullivan was born on May 1, 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art (1927–1932) and at the Colorado Springs Fine Art Center (1943–1944). In 1932, she married the sculptor William Mozart McVey, and from 1935 to 1947, she worked as a ceramist in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. William accepted a teaching position at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1947, and there she met the Finnish artist Maija Grotell and became friends with the Japanese-American artist Toshiko Takaezu who studied at the Cranbrook Academy from 1951 to 1954. In 1953, McVey returned to her native city of Cleveland and established her studio in the suburb of Pepper Pike, Ohio.

McVey's large-scaled, biomorphic, asymmetrical work is said to reflect her dissatisfaction with wheel-thrown pieces and to have led the way for modern ceramic art in the United States. Influenced by surrealism, her sculptural stoneware and porcelain works embody the natural, organic form. In 1965, the Cleveland Institute of Art presented a major retrospective of her work that included seventy-five large scale sculptures or what she called "ceramic forms." By 1979 McVey's production slowed due to her failing eyesight.

McVey died on September 24, 1984 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Collections containing work
McVey's work may be found in many collections including the Everson Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Syracuse University Art Museum.

Legacy
In 2002 the art historian Martin Eidelberg wrote a book entitled The ceramic forms of Leza McVey which helped bring her work back into the public eye.