Furniture Romp and Potter Visit

Investigating furniture at MESDA during the 2011 Summer Institute

 This morning I had the chance to basically be a glorified chaperone for a group of furniture makers who were visiting the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). It was great to go through the rooms and watch what objects they were attracted to, and be a part of their close inspection of the pieces. I became a part-time guide at MESDA late last fall and really enjoy spending time with the objects, sharing the collection with visitors, and learning from experienced visitors like these furniture makers. It reminded me of my days in the Winterthur Program which sometimes (more often than not) looked like this:

Learning about tea tables, their construction, and identification

 I really enjoy teaching and learning about history and culture through objects. Learning about the manufacture of those objects just makes the whole study even more exciting. Following ceramics, furniture is probably the close second in my material culture interests (and then a close follow-up is glass and textiles). I will have to tell you about my boat building and furniture making experiences some day. Luckily, this morning we did not have anything happen like this:

My reworking of a Lewis Miller print from Pennsylvania with a cupboard being toppled by a bull

 This afternoon I had a lovely excursion to meet up with Dennis Allen from Whistle Creek Pottery at the North Carolina Pottery Center and show him through the exhibition I put together. Some time ago, I had the small-world experience of reading Dennis' blog and then poking around to learn more about him. I noticed his shows were primarily in Southern Ohio (where I grew up) and then saw something about Lebanon, Ohio (where my family is from). Long story short, Dennis is from Lebanon, and it is nice to make a connection with a distant, yet local (to my roots), potter! It was great to walk through the exhibition and talk about my thought processes with developing the exhibition and the various pieces and potters involved. It was also a great chance to get to know Dennis a little more! Thanks, Dennis for visiting!

Dennis Allen at the North Carolina Pottery Center

 I have been wrapping things up in the studio this past week for a firing next weekend. Last-minute glazing and some decoration will take place in the coming days. I also have some minor work on the kiln to complete (just some mortar issues). Here are a few snapshots from the studio this past week:

Finished basket form for this week's 52 Form Project form

Decorated plates and smaller plates

Exhibition Open

The exhibition I curated at the North Carolina Pottery Center opened this past Saturday. The exhibition, "Old Ways in Mind: Historical American Pottery and Contemporary NC Potters" explores the influences of historic American pottery on North Carolina potters and their work, their kiln firings, and their decorations.

It has been really great to get the pieces up on the pedestals and see everything together rather than just picturing it in my head.

Michel Bayne and his influence from pottery of the Edgefield District of SC

Matt Jones' jug with lettering and his influence from David Drake of the Edgefield District of SC

Mary Farrell of Westmoore Pottery and her influence from Alamance County, NC pottery

I particularly enjoy seeing the contemporary potters' work paired up with images of, or intact examples of their inspirations or influences.

I also included a section to talk about historic kilns, how they were fired, and how the pots were placed in the kiln. I'll be posting some lessons I learned about kiln furniture from this installation!

Talking about the process for lead glazing and other kiln firings and decorating techniques was also a focus of the exhibition. For the most part, I left the exhibition text with each potter's case in their words, primarily in first person, so the visitor can feel like they are listening to the potter talk about their work while viewing the pottery.

The exhibition is on display through early March, so be sure to stop in for a visit!

North Carolina Pottery Center Events and Exhibitions

Vase heading to the Pottery Center auction

This piece is heading to the 14th Annual Pottery Auction to support the North Carolina Pottery Center. It will be on Wednesday, August 28th at Leland Little Auctions in Hillsborough.

The opening for the newest exhibition at the Pottery Center was yesterday evening. The exhibition is entitled "Foodwares: Pottery for Storage and Preparation of Food" explores the historical and contemporary uses of pottery forms in and around the kitchen with food preparation. It was excellently curated by Mary Ferrell from Westmoore Pottery. I have a compost crock in with other lidded forms:

Compost Crock (upper right)

And a pickling crock:

Straight-sided half-gallon pickling crock with weight and lid

Most of the contemporary pottery in the exhibition is for sale! I was also captured at the opening laughing (at what, I cannot remember!):

Photo by Samantha Henneke with Bruce Gholson and Brenda laughing

Here are a few highlights of historic pieces in the exhibition:

Archaeological Moravian cooking vessels from Salem

Large Mixing bowl

Be sure to check out this exhibition and try to make it to the pottery auction to support the mission and efforts of the Pottery Center!

"Warrented to be Ston Ware"

Courtesy, Antiques and the Arts

"Warrented to be Ston Ware" was scrawled across the side of a large piece of pottery which I had the pleasure of seeing this past weekend in Tennessee.  I had the chance to visit the Museum of East Tennessee in Knoxville where they have an exhibition entitled "Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee, 1800-1900." I was unable to take photos inside of the exhibition, but want to share some photos from an article by Antiques and the Arts. On many of the earthenware pieces, and some of the stoneware pieces were these amazing, gargantuan handles which I was particularly enamored with.

Courtesy, Antiques and the Arts

The manganese on the earthenware pieces was very glittery, which made me wonder whether there is a high percentage of mica in the manganese, or whether there is another mineral which creates that look. The stoneware pieces were not only beautiful, but some of them were jaw-dropping. Particularly, the water coolers fascinated me including this piece made by T.W. Craven and Co., a branch of the Cravens from North Carolina who relocated to Tennessee.

The Germanic pieces with lush decorations certainly had my eye and it was love at first sight.

These pieces reminded me a lot of New York and Connecticut pieces, so I am intrigued to learn more about the history of these potters. I was told that Carole Wahler, who curated the exhibition, is working on an exhibition companion to be published at the end of the month.  In the meantime, I might have to start writing "Warrented to be Ston Ware" on the sides of some pieces!
This is a great video from Antiques and the Arts highlighting other pieces from the exhibition. Enjoy!

Ackland Exhibition

If you have a chance before March 20th, go to the Ackland Art Museum to see the exhibition entitled "Tradition in Clay: Two Centuries of Classic North Carolina Pots." I went on Thursday to see the exhibition and also had the privilege of seeing Daniel Johnston make a presentation on his work. He showed a sneak preview of the video made during his Large Jar Project.

Daniel Johnston presenting

After the presentation I went through the exhibition and was excited to see such a range of pieces.

The openess of the exhibition space was exsquisite

I liked the layout of the exhibition. It was in two rooms, with one room being a combination of salt-glazed and alkaline-glazed wares from all across the state. I thought this was beneficial because it showed that both of these techniques were in use at the same time in different regions. The pieces in this room were mostly from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As the exhibition progressed in this room there was a transition of glazes and forms which led into the second room showing the movement of art pottery in the twentieth-century and the rise of regions like Seagrove and the establishment of Jugtown Pottery.

All of these pieces are from the Fox family, dated range from 1840-1870. I liked the austerity of the displays with just the pieces with a muted background and open pedestals

Handle of an Enoch Craven bottle, ca. 1850

Of course I was mostly drawn to the nineteenth and early twentieth-century pieces, and spent a great deal of time looking closely at handles and decorative markings. I have an affinity for ovoid bottles, and there was no shortage of these!

Bottle from the Webster pottery, dated 1875

Side of large storage jar attributed to John Craven, ca. 1850

Interior of large storage jar attributed to John Craven. It was nice to be able to get close the pieces and see the inside of them and see the details. I may have looked a little strange kneeling so close to the pieces and hovering above the pedestals!

Bottle by William Henry Hancock, 19th century

Handle detail on Hancock bottle

In closing, if you have a chance, I highly recommend going to see the exhibition and having the chance to take a closer look at North Carolina pottery.

Top of Nicholas Fox bottle, ca. 1840

American Ceramic Circle Meeting

The 'wings' of the Milwaukee Art Museum opened

This past weekend wasthe annual meeting of the American Ceramic Circle. This year's meeting was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is a really nice city! (Not that I'm surprised by that fact, I had just never been there!) The lectures and presentations were at the Milwaukee Art Museum(MAM), which is a wonderful feat of architecture! I had the opportunity to watch the "wings" open twice! The lectures were all very insightful and interesting. I was really excited that there were quite a few archaeological presentations too! I was also excited that there was quite a contingent of North Carolinians there! Archaeologist Linda Carnes-McNaughton, potter Mary Farrell from Westmoore Pottery, and Hal and Eleanor Pugh from New Salem Pottery were there. Mary, Hal, and Eleanor did a pottery demonstration at the museum on Sunday. Potter Michelle Erikson also did a demonstration on how she learned to recreate North Carolina Moravian bottles, such as the faience ring bottle, and the eagle flask (check out the Ceramics in America publications mentioned below for images of the originals).

Michelle trimming the ring bottle

The eagle flask after Michelle popped it out of the mold and assembled the various parts

The exhibit Art In Clay has a lot of the objects which were reassessed in the 2009 and 2010 Ceramics in America publications. It was really great to see them all in one place, and to see archaeological fragments with intact pieces. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any photos! However, I can show you photos of the innovative ceramic displays as a part of the Chipstone Foundation's galleries at the MAM.
The decorative arts galleries have a series of exhibition spaces and thematic arrangements. Each space invites the visitor to get close to the objects, see them at eye level, and perhaps, think about them in a different way. As curator John Prown said, the "awakening of wonder, surprise, and curiosity should always be the goal."

This desk and bookcase is filled with minerals, fossils, and shells in order to have the visitor think about the influences nature had on the carvings and design of the piece in the 18th century

One of the most fascinating displays was called Loca Miraculi or Rooms of Wonder which offered interactive drawers in cases to pull out and see natural materials, botanical prints, and other art which historically influenced ceramic and furniture design. Curator Ethan Lasser did a presentation on the galleries, and explained that they worked to show "aspects of an object which connect it to its cultural and historical background."

The cases were beautifully designed and artfully arranged. For an example of how this exhibit worked, the teapots below were made in the second half of the 18th century. They look very Art Deco, don't they?

The teapot on the left is earthenware (creamware) and the pot on the right is salt-glazed stoneware

These pieces were influenced by a fervor for geological formations in the eighteenth-century. Prints and drawings were widely distributed, and the excitement for the shapes and textures were transferred to ceramic.



The reproduced image pages in the drawer came from A General Natural History authored by John Hill ca. 1748

The same series of cases also put geologic stones such as agate paired with a piece of agate earthenware produced in the third quarter of the 18th-century. I thought this was especially fascinating and beautiful to see the pairs together.  

Agate earthenware compared with geologic agate stone

The lectures wrapped up on Saturday, and I ended my Saturday evening with a lovely dish of sausage, bratwurst, cheese, and sauerkraut at Mader's. Mader's has been around since 1909, and it was wonderful. The Franciskaner Weissbier Dunkel beer was also very good.