About the Artist: Mary Tuthill Lindheim
August 29, 2024
Artist and activist Mary Tuthill Lindheim (1912–2004) [figs. 1-2] embraced exciting new directions in studio ceramics, jewelry, and wall pieces, with artworks that reflected her beliefs in social justice and the interconnectedness of nature, humanity, and the cosmos. This alignment in her work can be understood through her lifelong dedication to social activism and compassionate approach to life, as detailed in her writings, particularly in the radical principles set forth in her “Credo.” Through a series of thematic groupings inspired by Lindheim’s credo, the exhibition at the Crocker, Mary Tuthill Lindheim: Kindred Responses to Life, features more than 40 artworks from private and public collections, the majority of which were created during her years living and working in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
Born to an Episcopal family in Newton, New Jersey, Lindheim was raised on a ranch in Tucson, Arizona. In the 1930s, she enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts (later San Francisco Art Institute) and the Chouinard Art Institute (later absorbed into CalArts) in Los Angeles, and studied sculpture under the mentorship of nationally celebrated artists Alexander Archipenko, Isamu Noguchi, and Jose De Creeft. In the 1940s, she moved to Northern California—living briefly in Davis, Mill Valley, San Francisco, and Forrest Knolls—with her husband, Donald Lindheim. Following her husband’s death in WWII, Lindheim settled in Sausalito and delved into ceramics, studying with Antonio Prieto at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now California College of the Arts). In 1954, she returned to the Southwest on a solo camping trip to Santa Fe, San Ildefonso Pueblo, and the Chuska Mountains region on the Navajo Nation. During this trip, she met potter Rose Cata Gonzales (Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo also known as San Juan Pueblo), known for her coiled, carved, and burnished black ware. Through her experiences in the Southwest and within the artistic milieu of the Bay Area, Lindheim developed her ceramic practice, embracing clay as a creative medium and vital means of self-expression.
Throughout her life, Lindheim maintained a deep reverence for nature and the environment, often choosing to reside in locations that immersed her in natural surroundings. “I need to be close to the natural sources, the natural rhythms of life,” she explained. While living on the Sausalito waterfront, Lindheim created an indoor-outdoor studio space and constructed a kick-wheel, believing it to be more harmonious with nature than its louder electronic equivalent. For artists like Lindheim, clay and other natural materials were metaphors for raising awareness of environmental issues amid rapid urban development and technological advancements. Through its emphasis on handwork, local materials, and sustainability, studio pottery like Bottle (circa 1957) [fig. 3], represented a path away from consumerism and towards a more self-reliant rural lifestyle. Along these lines, Lindheim made many pieces with no intention of selling them—a stance in opposition to the commercial practices of other ceramists and friends, including the founder of Heath Ceramics, Edith Heath, who designed dinnerware and other functional ceramics made using local materials. Though Lindheim did admit to selling artwork to survive, she managed to retain a significant portion of her oeuvre, a choice that, for better or worse, precluded her work from entering collections during the earlier stages of her career.
In another point on the credo, Lindheim pledges “to be responsible for my part to preserve our planet—the earth, the plants, the animals, air, water.” Decades ahead of her time, her concern for the environment and commitment to activism included founding the Save the Cove Committee in 1959, created in response to proposed apartment development along the Sausalito waterfront. The committee, together with the nonprofit Sausalito Foundation, raised $60,000 and obtained a significant number of signatures to purchase the land and halt construction. Despite Lindheim’s efforts to thwart development, she was ultimately priced out of Sausalito after her waterfront residence was condemned. She moved to the small coastal town of Bolinas where she lived for the rest of her life.
The ethos of self-reliance, sustainability, and profound engagement with the natural world is evident in Lindheim’s use of local materials, such as clay, sand, and stones, which was inspired, in part, by Indigenous traditions. Incorporating materials from the waterfront and desert terrain, her sculptures showcase textured glazes and a palette rich in burnt oranges, turquoise, and cobalt blue. For Lindheim, everyday items like Cindered Candelabra [fig. 4] were also objects of possibility, simultaneously presenting a way to “find a richness in a simple way of living,” and contemplating “the incredible intricacies and order of the universe.”
Being off the grid and immersed in nature not only presented Lindheim with a constant source of inspiration, but her remoteness also afforded her time to advocate for social justice causes. Lindheim became a member of the NAACP at fourteen and, as a young woman, championed anti-lynching legislation in Washington, DC. Other efforts included advocating for veteran’s housing in Sacramento in the years following WWII, fundraising for Spanish refugees, and rallying artists against the Vietnam War. Human figures, especially female forms, are present across her work, serving as conduits for expressing a range of emotions and narratives, including sorrow, joy, hope, splendor, movement, and the human spirit.
Lindheim supplemented her income by working briefly as an art educator at the California Labor School in San Francisco, undertaking commission-based work, and participating in some of the most important ceramics exhibitions of the era, including the first International Exhibition of Ceramics in Cannes, France (1955); Ceramic Nationals at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York; the Pacific Coast ceramic exhibitions at the City of Paris Rotunda Gallery in San Francisco; and the California State Fair in Sacramento. Additionally, she was an active member of numerous craft organizations, including the Association of San Francisco Potters and San Francisco Women Artists. She was also a founding member of the Designer-Craftsman of California, the Sausalito Art Festival, and a key figure in the Marin Society of Artists.
Mary Tuthill Lindheim: Kindred Responses to Life showcases an artist fervently guided by a strong moral compass. Lindheim’s studio pottery, sculpture, and jewelry are placed in conversation with works by some of her colleagues, friends, and peers to acknowledge her expansive network and to illuminate various aspects of her practice through their shared approaches to material and process. Her responses to art and life are politically and aesthetically significant, offering lessons on how California artists, especially women artists, participated in an ecosystem of activism and cultural labor in the later half of the 20th century.