Sorcha Boru
Sorcha Boru was the assumed or studio name of Claire Everett (née Jones) Stewart (13 April 1900 – 30 January 2006), a potter and ceramic sculptor. Most of her works include small items such as figurines, vases, planters, and salt and pepper shakers, mostly done in the art deco style. One of her pieces includes an "Alice in Wonderland" chess set (1932).
Stewart was born in San Francisco, California and graduated from the Girls High School in San Francisco in 1919. She received a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California Berkeley in 1924. In 1926, she married Ellsworth R. Stewart (1897 – 1971) whom she met while they were students at UC Berkeley.
From about 1932 to 1939, Stewart had a studio at the Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park, California. From about 1940 to the mid-1950s, she had a studio at 430 El Camino Real in San Carlos, California with a production factory nearby in San Carlos, operated by her husband who made pieces using molds.
Stewart's work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art (1937), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1935), the Golden Gate International Exposition (1939), the Syracuse (New York) Museum of Fine Arts, now the Everson Museum of Art (1936) and Northwestern University Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois.
Stewart's works are held at the Everson Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum and at the Museum of History in San Carlos, California. She died in Stockton, California at the age of 105.
Sources
- The Potter's Art in California, 1885 to 1955 (1980), Hazel V. Bray
- Carlmont Enquirer-Bulletin, 21 July 1982, Russel Estep (article)
- Who's Who in American Art, 1985 (revised edition), Peter Hastings Falk
- Artists in California, 1786 - 1940, 2002, Eden Milton Hughes
- Museum of San Carlos History, San Carlos, California (exhibit)
- The New York Times, 15 April 1990, Harold C. Schonberg (antiques article)