Mary Hedeman has been doing some form of art and creativity for most of her life. Her current passion, and the one she has loved the most, is working with clay.
“I make pottery, some functional pieces like cups and stuff like that, but I prefer to do decorative things. Since I took my welding class 10 or 12 years ago, then I really liked that. That’s my favorite thing to do; incorporate the metal and the clay together,” she said.
She has always liked art, but she got interested in working with clay due to a friend and fellow potter.
“My friend Kathy King encouraged me to take a pottery class she was hosting at the high school before she retired, probably 15 years ago, and I got hooked, and my husband and my family think I’m obsessed, which you can get that way when you work with clay. When you meet other potters, we’re all kind of obsessed,” Hedeman said.
She likes to try many different things when it comes to her art and doesn’t really want to make anything too similar. One of her favorite pieces is a decorative piece made through pottery and welding.
“This one is one of my favorites because I made the pieces in a woodfire kiln, and that was the first time I used a woodfire kiln, so that’s one of my favorites,” she explained. “I try to not do anything alike. Everything I make I try to make it different.”
Throughout her life, she has worked with a multitude of art mediums as she loved being creative and trying new things.
“I’ve always liked to be creative. I did sewing when I was a kid, and I made my own clothes when I was in eighth grade and all through high school because I liked it. I took art classes in high school, and then I went to school for interior design. That got me creating in a different way. Then I had a business when I moved to Monroe, and I made a lot of unique drapery and window-treatment things, and I really enjoyed that. I’ve done stained glass for a business at one time, and then I got into pottery and welding,” Hedeman said. “I like to try different things, but I think I’m set now in what I’m going to do, but I’ve always liked to do art in many ways.”
Hedeman’s main source of inspiration when it comes to art is nature. Not only trees and flowers, but also fish, birds, and all kinds of animals.
“The first piece I made was a fish out of clay, and I like ducks and birds. I grew up in Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi River, so we were always surrounded by a lot of that. And flowers. A lot of time with pottery, I’ll take something, like go pick a leaf or part of a pine tree needle, and press that into the clay and make something out of it. So always nature,” she said.
She currently has some pieces on display at the Monroe Arts Center and will have a project that she made with Kathy King on display soon as well.
“I have some of my pieces right now at the MAC, and will be doing more there,” she explained.
Mary Hedeman is a true lover of art in any form and loves to make things unique. She also enjoys taking pieces from objects and making them into something new, such as using the springs from an old rocking horse and making it look like a cattail plant using other metal pieces. More of her art can be seen on her Instagram: maryhedeman.
