Mary Elsa Hocker smiles as she talks in her studio about one of her paintings of the Old Court House Museum and Biedenharn Candy Company.(Melanie Duncan Thortis The Vicksburg Post)

[4/5/04]Mary Elsa Hocker loves Vicksburg. She loves the people, the culture, the scenery and the buildings.

And they all provide the perfect inspiration for her paintings and pottery.

Hocker, 65, has studied with some of the state’s renowned artists, lived abroad and has been featured in galleries across the nation, but there’s nothing like home sweet home.

She grew up in the Belhaven area of the state capital and moved to Vicksburg from Tulsa, Okla., in 1996.

“Vicksburg reminded me of Jackson in the 1940s,” Hocker said, sitting in her Washington Street studio. “I love all of my friends here; I know all of my neighbors.”

With her clay, wheel and kiln, Hocker can sit for hours at her studio, kneading and feeling the clay between her fingers.

Besides pots of various shapes, sizes and glazes, Hocker experiments with mugs, sculptures in the shape of cats and seed pots.

“I could do it all day, every day, 24 hours a day,” she said. “Except when I have an idea for a painting, I have to go do that.”

Her paintings reflect what’s around her, wherever that scene might be. “If I get bored here, I’ll just go to the Coast,” she said.

She’s painted women in the waiting room where she was taking physical therapy after an accident on the Gulf Coast; she’s painted her neighbors in Vicksburg; she’s painted the Biedenharn Candy Company and Coca-Cola Museum and the Old Court House Museum works inspired by her love for the sights around her home.

Hocker grew up with Mississippi Master Artist Marie Hull as a mentor, and began painting and sculpting early.

“I started drawing deer in fields when I was 8 or 9 years old,” she said. “I always loved it. I believe, with art, you don’t choose it, it chooses you.”

Hocker recalled making her first piece of pottery after visiting a creekbed with her family and friends.

“I dug in the clay and made a pot,” she said. “I baked it in my mother’s oven and varnished it with shellac from my father’s garage.”

Now, after more than 55 years of practice, production and study, her technique and style are a far cry from those days.

Her education spans 22 years and includes a bachelor of art degree from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, a master’s degree in art history from the University of Arizona, a doctorate from the University of Virginia in education and post doctorate work from Sophia University in Tokyo.

Hocker’s studies have allowed her opportunity to learn about American Southwest and Mashiko pottery.

She has also been visiting scholar at the University of Virginia and has worked with the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi.

But despite the diversity of her work, she’s recently pulled her artwork from galleries in Oklahoma and other states. Her working studio is not open to the public, but some of her works are on display at the Vicksburg Art Association Spring Membership Exhibition at the Old Constitution Firehouse, 1204 Main St., which is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Wednesday. Her work can also be seen at The Attic Gallery, 1101 Washington St.