Nyburg née Cooper was born July 10, 1918 in Dixfield, Maine.

She married Robert Nyburg and moved to Baltimore, Maryland where she began her career in ceramics.

[4][5][6] In 1988, after the death of her husband, she moved to Deer Isle, Maine.

[7][8] The National Museum of Women in the Arts gave Nyburg a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.

[1] In 2007 Baltimore Clayworks established the Mary E. Nyburg Fund for Artist Development which is an annual stipend for ceramicists.