M. C. Richards

Mary Caroline Richards (July 13, 1916, Weiser, Idaho – September 10, 1999, Kimberton, Pennsylvania) was an American poet, potter and writer, best known for her book Centering in Pottery, Poetry and the Person.[1] Educated at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, and at the University of California at Berkeley, she taught English at the Central Washington College of Education and the University of Chicago, but in 1945 became a faculty member of the notoriously experimental Black Mountain College in North Carolina where she continued to teach until the end of the summer session in 1951. It was her teaching experience and growth as an artist while at Black Mountain College that prepared the foundation for most of her work in life, both as an educator and creator. Later in life, she discovered the work of Rudolf Steiner and lived the last part of her life in a Camp Hill Village community in Kimberton, PA. In 1985, while living at Camp Hill Village she began teaching workshops with Matthew Fox at the University of Creation Spirituality in Oakland, CA during the winter months.

Early Life

M.C. Richards was born in Weiser , Idaho on July 13, 1916. As a young infant her family moved to Portland, Oregon where she spent the early part of her life. In 1935 she attended St. Helen's Hall Junior College. Afterwards she received a scholarship to attend Reed College in Portland where she earned her BA Degree in Literature and Languages. In 1939 she earned her MA in English from the University of California at Berkeley and in 1942 earned her doctorate degree from there with a concentration in English and linguistics. She married Vernon Young (marriage dissolved) in 1943 and taught English at the Central Washington College of Education in Ellensburg, Washington. From there she taught briefly at the University of Chicago, but became disillusioned with the traditional academic environment. While teaching at the University of Chicago, she met the social scientist Bill Levi, and they were married in 1945 (their marriage was later dissolved while teaching at Black Mountain College).

1945 - 1951 Black Mountain College Years

In 1945 she and her husband Bill Levi went to Black Mountain College as faculty members. Bill taught social sciences and philosophy with M.C. teaching writing and literature.

At Black Mountain College, M.C. Richards was one of the most popular teachers with the students. She grouped her courses under the general heading of "Reading and Writing" while including important elements such as literary criticism, creative writing, and dramatic literature.[2] Through her natural abilities as a teacher she was able to keep the students interest while broadening their perspective. It was here that she began to make the transition from the academic career for which she had been trained and moved into taking a more creative approach in her teaching method.

In 1948 she and her students started the Black Mountain Press.[3] The purpose was to give students experience in typesetting and publishing. In addition they published literary works, broadsides, and booklets.[4] The Black Mountain Press published M.C.'s first book of collected poems titled, "Poems".

While at Black Mountain College she met the student James Herlihy. They stayed in touch with each other after Black Mountain College, and the correspondence between Mary Richards and James Herlihy is preserved at the University of Delaware Library.

When she left her faculty position at Black Mountain College in 1951, she joined John Cage and Merce Cunningham in New York City where they collaborated with others to include Ray Johnson, David Tudor, Robert Rauschenberg, Susan Weil, Paul Taylor, and Viola Farber.[2] While in New York she began to study pottery at the Greenwich House in Greenwich Village. She also began to work on the first translation for Anton Artaud's "The Theater and Its Double".[1] Students along with faculty members from Black Mountain College went on to play influential role in the emerging American Art scene in both New York and the San Francisco area.

1953 - 1984 Pottery, Poetry, Educator

During the summer of 1953 she returned to Black Mountain College as a student to study pottery with Karen Karnes and David Weinrib. During a summer Intensive at Black Mountain College Daniel Rhodes, Warren Mac Kenzie, and Peter Voulkos were invited to teach pottery for three weeks each. In 1954 M.C. moved to Stony Point, NY where she shared a pottery studio with Karen Karnes and David Weinreb.[2] She remained in the Stony Point community for ten years and it was here that she wrote "Centering: in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person".[5]

In the catalog for her exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art in 1991 with John Cage, Merce Cunningham, and Irwin Kremen , M.C. wrote about her experience at Black Mountain College as "challenging the intellectual imagination and being a time for a very alive and vibrant artistic community". During her time there she was able to "think of her work as integrating the soul, the mind, and the muscle". She was able to participate as a writer in the writing classes that she taught, and developed a print shop there where she and her students could print their work. Years later when the "pot shop" was built, she returned to Black Mountain College as a student and started what was a new life for her as a "poet potter" working in clay.[4]

1985 - 1999 University of Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox

Later in life she taught art at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS) at Holy Names College (now Holy Names University). ICCS was founded by former Roman Catholic and current Episcopal priest Matthew Fox (priest). Matthew invited M.C. Richards to be on his faculty at the University of Creation Spirituality teaching a course on Art as Meditation. She continued to teach there during the winter and live at Camp Hill during the rest of year, while also continuing to teach workshops at various centers.

1984 - 1999 Camphill Village, Kimberton, PA

She spent the last 15 years of her life living and working as a volunteer at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills, where she worked with residents with developmental disabilities and took up painting, and where the film “M.C. Richards: The Fire Within” was made. "Her art-of-many-genres wove together all her concerns, including community, agriculture, craft itself, and spiritual ideas. Always a poet, she regarded the end of her life – as physically limiting as it was - as another fulfilling adventure, “living toward dying, blooming into invisibility.” - Margaret Wakeley

Books

"Poems", Black Mountain Press

"Centering: in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person; Wesleyan University Press

"The Crossing Point: Selected Talks and Writings"; Wesleyan University Press

"Toward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America"; Wesleyan University Press

"The Public School and The Education of The Whole Person"; Pilgrim Press

"Imagine Inventing Yellow: New and Selected Poems"; Station Hill Press

"Opening Our Moral Eye: Essays, Poems, Paintings, Embracing Creativity and Community"; Lindisfarne Press

"Backpacking in the Hereafter, Poems by M.C. Richards", Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center

Exhibitions

"The Shape of Imagination: Women of Black Mountan College", Black Mountain College Museum+ Art Center, Asheville, NC, 2009.

"Imagine Inventing Yellow: The Life and Works of M.C. Richards", Worcester Center for Crafts, 1999.

"The Black Mountain Connection: John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Irwin Kremen, M.C. Richards", The Tampa Museum of Art, 1992.

References

  1. 1 2 Smith, Roberta. "M. C. Richards, Poet, Potter and Essayist, Dies at 83", The New York Times, September 20, 1999. Accessed March 29, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Harris, Mary Emma (2002). The Arts at Black Mountain College. Mary Emma Harris. pp. 115, footnote #22 – Richards Interview, 169, 232, 234, 245. ISBN 0-262-58212-0.
  3. ↑ Literary Trails of the North Carolina Mountains: A Guidebook By Georgann Eubanks Page 8
  4. 1 2 The Black Mountain Connection. The Tampa Museum of Art. 1991. p. 44.
  5. ↑ Staubach, Suzanne (1999). Imagine Inventing Yellow, the Life and Works of M.C. Richards. Worcester Center for Crafts. p. 49.

External links

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