Maureen Brockway, well-known potter and teacher, remembered for her inviting lessons

Ingrid Sundstrom remembers the last time she saw her friend and teacher Maureen Brockway, a potter who was well known in the Twin Cities arts community.

It was in 2019 at a national ceramics show in Minneapolis, and Brockway was in high demand.

"There's thousands of ceramic artists from all over the world that come to this show, and it seemed everywhere she turned, somebody said, 'Maureen! Maureen! Maureen!' " Sundstrom said.

Brockway devoted her life to teaching her craft and exhibited her work at shows around the Twin Cities. Her many friends and former students are remembering her skills and warmth as a teacher since Brockway's death on July 24 in Denver. She was 85.

Brockway, maiden name McDermaid, was born in Detroit, but her family moved shortly after to White Bear Lake. She graduated from Mahtomedi High School in 1955 and went on to the University of Minnesota, where she majored in art education and Spanish.

At the U, she studied under Warren McKenzie, the internationally known potter. But in Minnesota she was well known for her own pieces, usually made from hard-to-work porcelain clay and characterized by vibrant glazes sprayed with an air gun and intricate patterns of watered-down clay she applied with a syringe.

Brockway co-founded the ceramics department at the Edina Art Center and was co-head in the 1970s and 1980s. She continued to teach students there until moving to Colorado eight years ago, her sister, Peggy Weber said.

Brad Benn, who now teaches pottery classes himself, took his first session with Brockway and got "stuck" on the craft, he said.

"Besides being my first teacher, she was just a very good friend, and I could go to her with any questions about technique," Benn said.

Brockway even donated her personal gas-fired kiln to the Edina Art Center before moving out of the state. It previously sat in her backyard and fired her own work, but as Brockway aged, poor eyesight kept her from continuing to throw plates, bowls, mugs and other pieces of ceramic.

Her work was shown repeatedly around the cities, including in the juried show at the Minnesota State Fair, and she was one of the featured artists in the Purple Door Potters, a group that has an annual sale around Thanksgiving, Weber said.

In a 1994 article in Craft Connection, a newspaper put out by the Minnesota Craft Council, Brockway said: "I like working in the medium of clay, making beautiful forms that can be used. ... Lately I'm wanting to stretch my forms beyond only the utilitarian, into forms that might be more visually challenging: a higher handle, a smaller spout."

She is survived by her husband, Robert Brockway, whom she met in the Twin Cities' ULLR skiing club.

Brockway is also survived by her daughter Anne Waugaman and son David, sister Peggy Weber and four grandchildren.