UND Pottery Collection
Artist Bio
Marcia Bisbee was born in 1876 in Monroe County, Michigan to Horace Bisbee and Salome Evelina Stevens (later remarried as Williams). Horace and Salome had two other children after Marcia, Horace in 1879 (died 1880) and Eliza Ellen (Aiston) in 1841.
Bisbee began attending UND around 1894. She was a student assistant in the Chemistry department working in the laboratories, and eventually earned a BA from UND in 1898. The following year, she was hired into the Chemistry department during a period of its expansion as an instructor. Bisbee received an MA from UND in Chemistry, French, and German in 1900. Bisbee taught at the University and acted as the University Museum’s curator and Assistant in Mining Research until 1911 when she moved to the Ceramics department. She was active in pottery making and much of her work is still at the University today.
Bisbee took a leave-of-absence for the 1912-13 academic year and moved with her mother, Salome Williams, to the Lemke Land Colony in Concha Sinaloa, where William Lemke managed colonization there for Americans. After a year, they were driven out of the colony due to the Mexican Revolution and relocated to the California-Mexico border in hopes of returning to Sinaloa. It was in California where Bisbee fell ill with TB shortly after the relocation. She died shortly after, during the 1918 flu epidemic at age 41. She never married and was buried alongside her father in Benson County, ND. Her mother moved back to North Dakota after her death and lived to be 95 years old.
Sources: Newspapers, The University Bulletin, UND Chemistry Departmental History, Photograph Collection, Biennial Report of the University of North Dakota, Cemetery Site for M-Bisbee, Cemetery Site for H-Bisbee, Cemetery Site for Williams
Preview
Size
1.25 x 1.25 x 4
Date of Work
1904
Identification #
C MSC 096-0690 Gift
Description
See: C MSC 275-0848 Small handled green leaf dish with iridescent green crackle glaze made by Marcia Bisbee.
Art Descriptors
green (color); leaf (plant material); crackling; glazing (coating); bowls (vessels); ceramics (objects)
UND Seal
No
Cable Seal
No
Other Seals and Stamps
None
Identifying Markings
No Seal. Chip on the front ND clay in blue ink.
Condition
Good, Slight crazing
Recommended Citation
Bisbee, Marcia, "C MSC 096-0690 Gift, Green leaf dish with handle" (2017). UND Pottery Collection. 354.
https://commons.und.edu/pottery/354
Rights
Images are provided for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced for commercial use. Images may be protected by artist copyright. A credit line is required to be used for any public non-commercial educational purpose. The credit line must include, “Image courtesy of the University of North Dakota.”
Keywords
Pottery