Mary Ann Scherr

Mary Ann Scherr began her career as an artist in junior high when a local department store paid her twenty dollars for a series of portraits on bottle corks. Following this initial success, she became one of the first female automobile designers, working on interior and exterior designs for Ford, Mercury, and Lincoln. Her eclectic career continued when she and her husband later started their own industrial design company producing children’s books, restaurant murals, and ceramic cookie jars. Scherr turned to jewelry after the birth of her first child prevented her from participating actively in the design company. The artist is noted for pioneering methods of working with stainless steel, aluminum, and titanium. Two of her recent works, integrating medical devices and decorative jewelry, are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution.