Mary Drach McInnes
Professor of Art History
School of Art and Design at Alfred
Email:
CURRICULUM VITAE
Education
1994 Ph.D., History of Art, Boston University
1988 M.A., History of Art, Boston University
1978 B.A., Anthropology and the Practice of Art, U of CA, Berkeley
Employment
1996 - Independent Curator
1997- Professor, Division of Art History, School of Art and Design, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University
2005-6 Consultant, Laitman Documentation for American Craft, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
2005- 16 Member, Editorial Advisory Board of Interpreting Ceramics, an international, scholarly electronic journal devoted to
modern and contemporary ceramic art and art history
2010 Interim Dean, School of Art and Design, NYSCC, Alfred University
1992-96 Assistant, and Acting Director, Boston University Art Gallery
1994-95 Director, Museum Studies Program, Boston University
1987-88 Consultant, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian
Recent & Selected Publications & Presentations
(Focus: Contemporary Sculpture and Craft-Based Practices)
2023 "One Hundred Years Out: The Relevance of 1920s Glass Art to Current Practices," in Kevin Petrie and Jeffrey
Sarmiento,, eds. The Glass Reader. London: Berg Publishers.
2023 "Exhibiting a Legacy" in Wayne Higby, ed. William Undershill: Casting a Legacy. Stuttgart, Germany:
Arnoldsche Art Publishing.
2022 “Thinking through Glass Digitally” Lecture for the Glass Art Society 2021 Annual Conference
2019 "Writing Glass History" for the 2019 Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass on
“Issues of Glass Pedagogy: Criticism, Critique, and Critical Thinking,” in Brooklyn, NY.
2019 “Encountering Sculpture in the Digital Age” at the panel, Shaping Form and Shaping Space Sculpture’s
21st Century Challenge, International Sculpture Conference (ISC) in Portland, Oregon.
2019 “Maurice Marinot and ‘The Weightiness of Truly Beautiful Things,’” in Glass Quarterly, no. 156 (Fall 2019).
2019 “Kait Rhoads: Inspired by Nature and Informed by Memory” Neues Glas: New Glass Art and Architecture,
2/2019 (May 2019).
2019 Editor, Bioresonance: The Sculptural Work of Kait Rhoads. Hasselt, Belgium: Shiepers Gallery.
2019 “Summoning Eternal Life: The Work of Li Hong Wei” in Tao Wand, ed. Beyond Reflection:
The Art of Li Hongwei. Syracuse, NY: SUNY UP.
2017 “Critical Discourse, Professional Practice,” for Issues in Glass Pedagogy: Curriculum and Career, the 2017
Robert M. Minkoff Foundation Academic Symposium at UrbanGlass in Brooklyn, New York from
October 12-14.
2015 “Reflection: Collaborative Practice in Glass” Glass Quarterly, 140 (Fall 2015): 64.
2015 “As the Air Moves Behind You” in Chase Angier, As the Air Moves Behind You. Alfred, NY:
Fosdick-Nelson Gallery.
2013 “Intangible Notch, SkyWell Falls, and EarthCloud: The Architectural Reliefs” in Peter Held, ed.,
Wayne Higby: A Retrospective. Tempe, AZ: Ceramic Resource Center.
2013 “Visualizing Mortality: Robert Arneson's Chemo Portraits,” in Interpreting Ceramics, The First Decade. Ed.
by Jo Dahn and Jeffrey Jones. United Kingdom: Wunderkammer Press.
2013 “Gage/Gaze: Aesa Bjork and Hiromi Takazawa.” Alfred, NY: Fosdick-Nelson Gallery.
2011 “Introduction,” and issue editor of “Boundary-Work” Interpreting Ceramics 12 on international
developments in ceramic studio education
2010 “Curiouser and Curiouser, the Work of Nathan Prouty” in Nathan Prouty. Philadelphia: The Clay Studio.
2008 “Everything, Encrusted, and Encoded,” in Walter McConnell, Itinerant Edens: A Theory of Everything.
Missouri: Daum Museum.
2008 “Practicing Fiction: Ken Price as Folk Potter” at the Rhode Island School of Design,
Providence, Rhode Island.
2008 “Welcome,” and issue editor, “Five Emerging Artists Survey the Field,” in Interpreting Ceramics 9.
2008 “New Pedagogical Approaches in Art History” at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University,
Halifax, NS
2007 “Reflection, EarthCloud” and editor, “Architect and Artist: A Conversation Between Bruce Wood and
Wayne Higby” in Wayne Higby, EarthCloud. Stuttgart, Germany: Arnoldsche Fine Art Publishing.
2007 “Reconsidering the Ceramic Object,” in Proceedings, School of Visual Arts, NY.
2006 “Cadiz: The Sculptural Topology of Anne Currier,” in Anne Currier. Stuttgart, Germany:
Arnoldsche Art Publishing.
2006 “Happy's Curios: Situating Ceramics in Postwar America” for the panel, Clay/Kitsch at the College Art
Association Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.
2006 “Interview with Anne Currier.” Nanette L. Laitman Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, the
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
2006 “Interview with Wayne Higby.” Nanette L. Laitman Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, the
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
2005 “Interview with Jun Kaneko.” Nanette L. Laitman Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America, the
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.