Mary Drach McInnes
Professor Emerita 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
​
1997-24. 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)
2025 "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 Underhill: 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