Born February 6, 1922, in Kankakee, IL, Theresa Madonna (Donna) Fortin graduated from high school in 1939. She attended one year of nurses training at St. Joseph Hospital in Joliet, IL, before switching to art studies. She attended several art schools during this time, most notably The Art Institute of Chicago. After serving in the Women’s Army Corp (WAC) during World War II, she spent ten weeks assigned to the Army Photography School at Lowry Field in Denver. This brief introduction to Colorado prompted her decision to return to the state following he discharge from the service in 1946. She immediately enrolled at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center in order to study with Edgar Britton. There she met and married fellow art student Edward Marecak. They and their two sons settled in Denver in 1952. Donna Marecak had become interested in ceramics while studying at the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1951. She decided to make this medium her focus and was gradually able to acquire the tools and equipment to set up her own studio. She continued classes at the University of Denver from 1964 to 1966, and received a BFA. Marecak taught privately from her own studio and in the Denver Public Schools from 1966 until 1971. In addition, she exhibited locally, and with her husband Edward was a dynamic part of the local art community.

This delicate ceramic vessel was decorated with a sugar-water resist technique. Donna Marecak’s work often includes freehand but highly precise geometric patterns as well as natural subjects like flowers, trees, and birds. She began her artistic career as a painter, and that is evident in her patterning. In this piece, birds in flight are shown in small windows with a brief glimpse of blue sky and clouds. Harmony with nature is a recurring theme in Marecak’s work.