Sorcha Boru was the assumed or studio name of Claire Everett (née Jones) Stewart, 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

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 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

Allied Arts Guild

Allied Arts Guild, located in Menlo Park, California, stands on part of what was once a vast 35,250 acre  land grant dating back to the late 18th century. A king of Spain, probably Charles IV, ceded the property to Don Jose Arguello, commander of the Presidio of San Francisco...

 in Menlo Park, California. From about 1940 to the mid 1950's, she had a studio at 430 El Camino Real

El Camino Real (California)

El Camino Real and sometimes associated with Calle Real usually refers to the 600-mile California Mission Trail, connecting the former Alta California's 21 missions , 4 presidios, and several pueblos, stretching from Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego...

 in San Carlos, California

San Carlos, California

San Carlos is a city in San Mateo County, California, USA on the San Francisco Peninsula, about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It is an affluent small residential suburb located between Belmont to the north and Redwood City to the south. San Carlos' ZIP code is 94070, and it is within...

 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

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...

 (1935), the Golden Gate International Exposition

Golden Gate International Exposition

The Golden Gate International Exposition , held at San Francisco, California's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair that celebrated, among other things, the city's two newly-built bridges. The San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge was dedicated in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge was dedicated in 1937...

 (1939), the Syracuse

Syracuse, New York

Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

 (New York) Museum of Fine Arts, now the Everson Museum of Art

Everson Museum of Art

The Everson Museum of Art in Downtown Syracuse, New York is a major Central New York museum focusing on American art.-History:The museum was founded in 1897 by art historian George Fisk Comfort ; at that time, it was called the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts...

 (1936) and Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 Museum of Art in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

.

Stewart's works are held at the Everson Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum and at the Museum of San Carlos History in San Carlos California. She died in Stockton, California

Stockton, California

Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...

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)

External links

• http://www.sancarloshistorymuseum.org