Patricia Degener (1924 - 2008) Ceramic Vessel

Degener worked in a variety of media - painting, drawing, words - but pottery was her great love. She won numerous awards for her ceramics beginning with the Young Americans competition in 1953. Her work was exhibited at the St. Louis Art Museum. Degener taught art for years in the St. Louis school system and founded several art organizations including The Craft Alliance, a gallery and crafts cooperative, started in 1964. She was known in St. Louis for bringing art to poor, inner-city youths, through an organization funded by grants that taught a variety of arts including ceramics, dance, photography, painting and others. She felt that nobody should be denied art due to the economic standing. She felt art could bridge gender, racial, generational and other gaps. She taught pottery classes in her garage on Saturdays that turned neighborhood children on to the art form. Ms. Degener became interior design writer of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1969; in 1980, she became the paper's art critic. She retired in 1990, which left her more time to spend in Cape May and Martha's Vineyard, two of her favorite places.