Mary Frank, Maker of Mystery Pot 49!

Mary Frank was born in London in 1933 and moved to the United States at the age of seven. In the early 1950's she began carving wood sculpture and studied with Hans Hoffman and Max Beckmann. In 1969, she began working on large multi-part, ﬁgurative clay sculptures until the early 80’s. Over the course of Frank’s five decade career, she has worked in many mediums and materials, most notably with her monoprints, drawings, sculpture, painting and photography.

In 1958, Frank first exhibited her drawings at the Poindexter Gallery. In 1969, she began a relationship with the Zabriskie Gallery, started working in clay inspired by Margaret Ponce Israel's work, and illustrated a children's book. She purchased a summer home in Lake Hill, New York in 1973 where she built her first kiln. Frank currently has works included in the permanent collections of over 20 museums across the United States. Frank has been the subject of numerous solo museum and gallery exhibitions, including the 2022 retrospective exhibition, Mary Frank: The Observing Heart, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum in New Paltz, NY.

Frank was elected to the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1984 and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship Awards in 1973 and 1983, the Lee Krasner Award of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 1993 and the Joan Mitchell Grant Award in 1995. In 1990 she was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1994. Working as a professor at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Frank was honored with the title of Milton Avery Chair, Distinguished Professor.