M. C. Richards | |
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| Born | Mary Caroline Richards July 13, 1916 Weiser, Idaho, U.S. |
| Died | September 10, 1999(1999-09-10) (aged 83) Kimberton, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Education | Oregon Episcopal School |
| Alma mater | Reed College, University of California, Berkeley, |
| Occupations | poet, potter, writer, essayist, translator, educator |
| Spouse(s) | Vernon Young (divorced), Albert William Levi Jr. (divorced) |
Mary Caroline Richards (July 13, 1916, Weiser, Idaho – September 10, 1999, Kimberton, Pennsylvania) was an American poet, potter, and writer best known for her bookCentering: in Pottery, Poetry and the Person.[1] Educated atReed College, in Portland, Oregon, and at theUniversity of California at Berkeley, she taught English at theCentral Washington College of Education and theUniversity of Chicago, but in 1945 became a faculty member of the experimentalBlack Mountain College inNorth Carolina where she continued to teach until the end of the summer session in 1951.[2]
Her teaching experience and growth as an artist while at Black Mountain College prepared the foundation for most of her work in life, both as an educator and creator. Later in life, she discovered the work ofRudolf Steiner and lived the last part of her life at aCamphill Village in Kimberton, PA. In 1985, while living at the Kimberton Camphill Village she began teaching workshops withMatthew Fox at the University of Creation Spirituality inOakland, CA during the winter months. Mary Caroline Richards died in 1999 in Kimberton, PA.[1]
M.C. Richards was born in Weiser, Idaho on July 13, 1916. As an infant her family moved to Portland, Oregon where she spent the early part of her life. In 1935 she attended high school at theOregon Episcopal School (then called St. Helen's Hall Junior College).
She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree atReed College in Portland, in Literature and Languages. She earned a MA degree in 1939 in English and a PhD in 1942 in English and linguistics, both degrees were fromUniversity of California, Berkeley.
In 1943 she taught English at theCentral Washington College of Education in Ellensburg, Washington and married Vernon Young (marriage later dissolved). From there she taught briefly at theUniversity of California at Berkeley and at theUniversity of Chicago,[3] but became disillusioned with the traditional academic environment. While teaching at theUniversity of Chicago, she met the social scientistAlbert William Levi Jr., and they were married in 1945 (their marriage was dissolved while she was teaching at Black Mountain College).
In 1945 Richards joined the faculty of the English Department atBlack Mountain College, where she taught writing and literature, and where she served as Faculty Chair from 1949 to 1951.[4]
AtBlack Mountain College, M.C. Richards was one of the most popular teachers with the students.[5] 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.[6] 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 methods.[7]
Here began many of the associations which connect her to the music and art worlds, through friendships withDavid Tudor,Lou Harrison andJohn Cage in music,Merce Cunningham andRemy Charlip in dance,Charles Olson,Robert Creeley, andRobert Duncan (loosely known as the "Black Mountain Poets") in literature, andLyle Bongé andJoe Fiore in the visual arts. Her involvement with theater began at Black Mountain College with her translation of plays byJean Cocteau andErik Satie.[3]
In 1948 Richards and her students founded theBlack Mountain Press.[3][8] The purpose was to give students experience in typesetting and publishing.[8] In addition they published literary works, broadsides, and booklets.[8] The Black Mountain Press published M.C.'s first book of collected poems, titledPoems[4] as well as the short-livedBlack Mountain College Review, not to be confused with the laterBlack Mountain Review edited byRobert Creeley.
Though intended as a series, only one issue (Vol. 1, No. 1, June 1951) ofThe Black Mountain College Review was printed, featuring a Noh play byNick Cernovich, "High Speed Computing Machines" byNatasha Goldowski, poems byFielding Dawson andJoel Oppenheimer, linoleum cuts by H. Roco, and other contributions byMary Fitton Fiore,Russell Edson, and Alex Kemeny. The editorial work was shared between M.C. Richards, Alex Kemeny, andHazel Larsen. A second issue was set in type but never printed due to lack of funds.[9]
While at Black Mountain College, Richards befriended studentJames Leo Herlihy, who went on to be a noted novelist, playwright and actor.
When she resigned her faculty position at Black Mountain College after the summer of 1951,[3] she moved to New York City along with pianist and Cage associateDavid Tudor.[3] There they joinedJohn Cage andMerce Cunningham, where they collaborated with others to includeRay Johnson,Robert Rauschenberg,Susan Weil,Paul Taylor, andViola Farber.[6]
While in New York, she began to study pottery at theGreenwich House in Greenwich Village.[10] She also began to work on the first English translation ofAnton Artaud'sThe Theatre and Its Double,[1] which was published byGrove Press in 1958 to wide acclaim.[3] Richards's translation is considered the definitive English version of the essays and was instrumental in introducing Artaud's work in the United States.[11]
In summer 1952, she participated inTheater Piece No. 1 at Black Mountain College, an event that came to be known as the firstHappening. It was organized by John Cage and also involving Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Olson, David Tudor, and Merce Cunningham.[3]
In the catalog for her exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art in 1991 withJohn Cage,Merce Cunningham, andIrwin 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.[8]
In 1953 she returned to Black Mountain College as a student to study pottery withKaren Karnes andDavid Weinrib. During a Summer Institute at Black Mountain College,Daniel Rhodes,Warren MacKenzie, andPeter Voulkos were invited to teach pottery for three weeks each. This sparked a shift for M.C. Richards as a "poet potter" working in clay.[8]
In 1954 Richards, Tudor, and Cage, among other former Black Mountain faculty, became part of the Gate Hill Cooperative community, also known as The Land, inStony Point, Rockland County, New York, founded by the architect Paul Williams. In Stony Point, she shared a pottery studio withKaren Karnes andDavid Weinrib.[6] She remained in the Stony Point community for ten years and it was here that she wroteCentering: In Pottery, Poetry, and the Person.[12]
In 1964, the same year she left Stony Point, her bookCentering: In Pottery, Poetry and the Person was published by Wesleyan University Press, followed in 1973 byThe Crossing Point: Nine Easter Letters on the Art of Education and in 1980 byToward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America. These books reveal a very personal view of the development of the individual through art and life and, combined with her extensive teaching and lecturing throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, were widely influential in the arts education and craft communities.[3]
In 1965, Richards lifelong friend, potterPaulus Berensohn purchased 100 acres of land outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania for the creation of theEndless Mountains Farm art colony.[13][14] M.C. Richards joined Paulus at the Farm a few years later in 1968.[13] Due to a health scare, Berensohn left Endless Mountains Farm in 1972 however it remained in community operation.[13] The farm had changed ownership shares over the years, the last owner was M.C. Richards in 1993, and she decided to put her future energy into Camphill Village in Kimberton, Pennsylvania and sold her shares.[13]
Mary Beth Edelson'sSome Living American Women Artists / Last Supper (1972) appropriatedLeonardo da Vinci’sThe Last Supper, with the heads of notable women artists collaged over the heads of Christ and his apostles; M.C. was among those notable women artists. This image, addressing the role of religious and art historical iconography in the subordination of women, became "one of the most iconic images of thefeminist art movement."[15][16]
Later in life she taught art at the Institute in Culture and Creation Spirituality (ICCS) at Holy Names College (nowHoly Names University) in Oakland, California. ICCS was founded by formerRoman Catholic and currentEpiscopal priestMatthew 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 the Camphill Village Intentional Community in Kimberton Hills, Pennsylvania during the rest of year, while also continuing to teach workshops at various literary and visual art centers.
She spent the last 15 years of her life living and working as a volunteer atCamphill Village Kimberton Hills, in Pennsylvania, anintentional living community based on the teachings ofRudolf Steiner, where the documentary filmM.C. Richards: The Fire Within (2003) was made.[17] There she also worked with residents with developmental disabilities.
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