Marie Woo

Early years Woo was born in Seattle, Washington to Southern Chinese parents. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in fine art from the University of Washington in 1954, and in 1956, her Master's from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Research in Asia Following what she called a "transformative" graduate program, Woo spent part of the 1960s in Southeast Asia; this would mark the beginning of a lifetime commitment to the traditions of Asian ceramics. Woo's interests in folk pottery were reignited in 1995 after a visit to Beijing, China. According to Woo, she was alarmed by how rapidly modernization was eclipsing interest in traditional ceramic practices. Later career Woo's extensive research in China culminated in her 2013 exhibition, "Chinese Folk Pottery: Art of the Everyday." Hosted by the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the collection continued to be shown for six years after it left the museum in Ann Arbor. In early 2020, Woo was awarded the Kresge Eminent Artist prize, an honor worth $50,000. In doing so, she was the first ceramicist to win since the award was established in 2008. == Themes ==

Considered a "potter's potter," Woo's work is notable for its technical imperfection and its interplay between form and function. In deference to Woo's 2016 retrospective, Clay Odyssey, art critic Sarah Rose Sharp stated, "There is great intentionality in the way that Woo has slashed and broken her forms – even those resembling traditional vessels have scarred-over cuts along their exterior surfaces, strategic tears and gouges, or oddly pinched handles on the lids of pots.” Speaking on her work, Woo says, "There is a permanence of ideas and forms when clay is frozen by fire. But unfired clay forms, when exposed to the natural elements, become slowly transformed, reclaimed and absorbed back to the earth, a metaphor for life. Ideas and built forms are erased and no longer recognizable." Two glazes the artist worked with and refined throughout her career, her signature "Woo Yellow" and "Woo Blue," are replicated by ceramicists internationally. == Personal life and death ==

Woo was married to architect Harvey Levine, whom she met while at Cranbrook. Together they have a son, Ian, a corporate pilot, and a daughter, Leslie Raymond, who is the director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. Woo died in February 2026, at the age of 97. == Awards ==

• Kresge Eminent Artist Award, 2020 • Syracuse National Ceramic Exhibition Purchase Award, 1956 == Exhibitions ==

• Marie Woo: Clay Quest, The Scarab Club, Detroit, MI, 2020 == Collections ==

• Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI • Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY • Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, CA == References ==