Ceramic Mushrooms and Other Fungi by Martha Gene Pierson Williamson

Past Exhibitions

9 September 1970 – 24 March 1971

The Institute exhibited ceramic fungi by Martha Gene Pierson Williamson (1915–1993). While working as a technician at the Willard Sherman Turrell Herbarium at Miami University in Ohio, she developed an interest in fungi and began to create models using white talc clay and natural materials. As an artist she worked in oil, pastel, charcoal, watercolor and photography but became best known for her ceramics of fungi. One of her ceramic mushrooms and her photograph of a fern were included in our 3rd International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration (1972). We have ten of her ceramic mushrooms in our collection and displayed most of them in The Mysterious Nature of Fungi (2015). This 1970–1971 show featured 88 items, which are listed in the accompanying exhibition checklist.

<p>Martha Gene Pierson Williamson (1915–1993), Oxford, Ohio, ca.1972, photograph by George Hoxie for Karen A. Korach, comp., <em>Catalogue [of the] 3rd International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration</em> (Pittsburgh, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, 1972, p. 177), HI Archives portrait no. 2, reproduced by permission of the photographer.</p>

Martha Gene Pierson Williamson (1915–1993), Oxford, Ohio, ca.1972, photograph by George Hoxie for Karen A. Korach, comp., Catalogue [of the] 3rd International Exhibition of Botanical Art & Illustration (Pittsburgh, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, 1972, p. 177), HI Archives portrait no. 2, reproduced by permission of the photographer.

Selected Artworks

[+] Click to enlarge

Download exhibit program