Sally Cone Patterson (b. Wausau, Wisconsin in 1932. d. Sacramento, California in 2007)
Sally grew up in Southern California. She graduated with a B.F.A. degree from the University of California at Berkley and subsequently earned her M.F.A. degree there in painting. After graduation, she spent a year abroad, traveling in Europe and attending the Hammersmith School of Art in England.
Sally taught art classes at the College of Holy Names in Oakland, California for several years. She also taught in the fine art department at American River College in Sacramento until coming to southwest Virginia 1964 to join her sister, Nancy, at Iron Mountain Stoneware.
Sally assisted in training the first employees. She taught them to love the clay. During the ten-week training course Sally inspired her pupils to create birdhouses, farm animals, and charming folk art with the clay. At the end of the training session, Sally began to paint on the stoneware bowls and platters. At first, she used a single brown pigment to paint abstractly her observations that “Trees edge the streams and fields, and one can always see another mountain beyond the one that’s close.” Each piece was an original, never like another, a One-of-a Kind.
In Virginia, Sally spent several years teaching for the University of Virginia Extension. Too, she taught art in the Washington County, Virginia Elementary Schools. A consultant to the State Art Education program, Sally produced a book illustrated with the art her children created.
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As Iron Mountain’s range of decoration colors and glazes grew, so did Sally’s array of decorative one-of-a-kind pieces. In addition to platters and bowls, her paintings adorned teapots, pitchers, cups and mugs, as well as most of the ware shapes produced. She executed numerous commissions for kitchens, tile counters and backsplashes, and she created framed multiple-tile paintings. Sally and Jim Kaneko collaborated to design the decorations for Iron Mountain’s “Lookout Mountain” pattern, a bold and daring concept when it was introduced to the dinnerware market.
Sally’s charming drawings illustrated Iron Mountain sale advertising. She designed a series of distinctive gift boxes for the stoneware, also used to promote sales.
Sally’s unique One-of-a Kind decorated pieces are highly prized by collectors. Their value continues to escalate with the passing of every year.
