Artist: Clary Illian
Clary Illian, IOWA
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ARTIST BIO
View our local news feature from July of 2025
Clary Illian is a potter who lives in Ely, Iowa. Illian apprenticed at Leach Pottery in England from 1964-65.
Hewing to the Leach philosophy, her subsequent work concentrated on the purity of the pot’s form and the potter’s life – one lived with strong convictions and a pure heart. She continues to produce useful daily pottery for local customers at a reasonable price. Clary Illian: A Potter’s Potter, a retrospective at the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, exhibited from August 2012 to February 2013.
Clary made primarily wheel thrown stoneware and porcelain functional ware at her first Ely studio from 1985-2009/ In 2009 she moved her studio around the corner to 1675 Main St Ely, IA 52227 where she transitioned to low fire earthenware clay with lots of slip decoration. As of 2024 she hand builds all her ceramic works.
PUBLICATIONS
Her ceramics book, A Potter's Potter published in 1999 is still available today from the University of Iowa press.
"In A Potter's Workbook, renowned studio potter and teacher Clary Illian presents a textbook for the hand and the mind. Her aim is to provide a way to see, to make, and to think about the forms of wheel-thrown vessels; her information and inspiration explain both the mechanics of throwing and finishing pots made simply on the wheel and the principles of truth and beauty arising from that traditional method.
Each chapter begins with a series of exercises that introduce the principles of good form and good forming for pitchers, bowls, cylinders, lids, handles, and every other conceivable functional shape. Focusing on utilitarian pottery created on the wheel, Illian explores sound, lively, and economically produced pottery forms that combine an invitation to mindful appreciation with ease of use. Charles Metzger's striking photographs, taken under ideal studio conditions, perfectly complement her vigorous text."
EDUCATION
1963 BFA Ceramics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa
APPRENTICESHIPS & RESIDENCIES
1964-1965 St. Ives Pottery, Bernard Leach, St. Ives, Cornwall, England
PRIMARY WORK EXPERIENCE
1965 - present Studio Potter
BIOGRAPHY
Clary Illian is well known for her wheel thrown functional pieces. Illian apprenticed at Leach Pottery from 1964 to 1965, leaving with an appreciation of the Asian aesthetic and of the hard work of being a studio potter. These have guided her work during her career. Through the years she has worked with stoneware, then porcelain, and finally earthenware. She switched from a gas fired kiln to electric firing which allowed her to use brighter colors, and simplify her lifestyle. At this time, she began decorating her work with images of plants and animals, continuing to produce useful pottery for local customers at a reasonable price.
A Portion of the movie, A Year in the Life: Clary Illian, can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhobQAM1Mho.
The Potters’ Cast, episode 223, an interview with Clary Illian, “The Value of Apprenticeship”, can be accessed here: http://thepotterscast.com/223.
Clary Illian is featured in the PBS Documentary, Craft in America: Crosswords, Midwestern Potters, segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzdkoqJLNqE.
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Brunnier Art Museum, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
rosenfieldcollection.com
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arvada Center. Useful Pots: Exhibition May 10-June 28, 1981. Arvada CO: Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities, 1981.
Hluch, Kevin A. The Art of Contemporary Pottery. Iola WI: Krause Publications, 2000.
Illian, Clary. The Potter’s Workbook. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 2002.
_________. Trevor Corser: His Life and Work. St. Ives, England: Leach Pottery, 2016.
_________. Guest Editor. “Women and Clay.” The Studio Potter 20, no. 1 (Dec. 1991).
Illian, Clary, Atom Burke, Rene Paine, Saffron Heike. Clary Illian: A Year in the Life (DVD format).
Williams, Gerry, ed. “Clary Illian and Garrison, Iowa.” The Studio Potter 7, no. 2 (Jan. 1979).