The Play-Doh Clay Factory, an extruder, was Mary Cay’s all time favorite Christmas present, broken by over use.   The next year a present of a drawing/painting instruction kit was the genesis for the push pull relationship she has with painting and ceramics.

Mary Cay’s first memory of constructing with clay was in the first grade, where a visiting art teacher taught pinch, coil and slab techniques.  Her shiny, red coil pot, complete with lid and knob, was chosen for exhibition in the Yellowstone County Fair, an event that set a career in motion.   During a year of independent study in painting at The Banff Centre, she attended a community class with visiting artist Marilyn Levine, whose hyper-realistic ceramic objects and excellence in glaze development fascinated her.    

In 2002, Ceramics Monthly magazine selected Cay as an Emerging Artist and published her work again in 2006 in an article about the development of Kiln Jewels^TM.   The book 500 bowls, Contemporary Exploration of a Timeless Design featured two pieces, one sculptural and one functional.  America Artist magazine chose a collage she created in 1979 depicting Vincent Van Gogh as a businessman for a competition titled “The Artist in Business.”  Her work is included in private and corporate collections.