American Art Pottery Association

Schedule

4-6 PM registration table opens at The Kingsley Hotel

Wednesday, April 23

7:30 AM Registration table opens

TBD Morning departure Tour to Edsel Ford home, etc.

Thursday April 24

TBD Morning departure Tour to Ann Arbor, etc.

6:00 PM – Meet and Greet and auction preview at The Kingsley – heavy hors ‘d oeuvres/cash bar

6:30 PM – Welcome remarks by President, introduction of Board, first time attendees,

Friday, April 25

7:00 AM – dealer set up for show.

TBD Full day of five seminars – times to be announced. See separate section for speakers.

5:30 PM – 6:30 PM convention registered members show preview

Saturday, April 26

9:00 AM-4PM Pottery show and sale – pottery identification table.

Speakers

Martin Eidelberg

Women and the American Art Pottery Movement

Professor Emeritus of Art History at Rutgers University

The important role of women in the American art pottery movement is widely acknowledged. Louise McLaughlin, Maria Longworth Nichols, Laura Fry, Adelaide Alsop Robineau—all are celebrated luminaries in the history of American ceramics. Likewise, by-now iconic photographs taken around 1900 showing women at work in the Rookwood, Grueby, and Newcomb College potteries testify to the omnipresence and importance of women.

Yet, for the greater part, women acted merely as decorators, not full-fledged ceramists. They did not prepare the clay, nor did they throw the vases or fire them. Much of the physical labor was turned over to men. In fact, most women’s involvement with ceramics was generally confined just to china decoration. Rather than being a minor current, china decoration was a mainstream activity. The women were organized into local groups and there was, as well, a national organization. There were local and national exhibitions; they even exhibited in Paris at the Exposition universelle. Only after 1900, and due largely to the efforts of Robineau, women were encouraged to work directly with the clay, to throw on the wheel, to glaze and fire their works. Not until about 1910, and more so after World War I, did this male-centered domain open its doors to women. Gradually and not without great difficulty, women sought and finally achieved parity.

Martin Eidelberg is Professor emeritus of Art History at Rutgers University. One of his fields of specialization is French eighteenth-century art, especially that of Antoine Watteau and his school. His other field of study is decorative arts from c. 1875 to 1960. He was one of the organizers of the historic 19.. exhibition on the American Arts & Crafts Movement. Since then he has written extensively on Tiffany and American ceramists such as Adelaide Alsop Robineau, Mary Chase Perry, Newcomb Pottery, George Ohr, Maija Grotell, Leza McVey,

Ulysses Grant Dietz

THAT BELONGS IN A MUSEUM: WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?

Chief Curator Emeritus, The Newark Museum of Art

The Venn diagram of what is museum quality for the Detroit Institute of Arts and The Newark Museum (of art) are not identical. There would be overlap, but not congruence. That will be the thought behind my seminar. In spite of studying art pottery for most of my 37 years at the Newark Museum, and in spite of two books on the topic; I still count my self an amateur. The idea of “museum quality” has intrigued and bothered me for all 37 of those years–and well past through the joys of online pottery groups. The Newark Museum of Art was founded on idea that “museum quality” was not about the cost or value or rarity of an object; but about its craft and design. The driving idea behind the museum’s early collecting of ceramics was the notion of “the art of the everyday.” Pottery was not painting, not sculpture, not “fine.” But it was art, and it was art for everyone. I’ll look at some pottery, and discuss what is good, maybe not so good, and what is interesting about it.

Ulysses Grant Dietz was Curator of Decorative Arts and Chief Curator at The Newark Museum for 37 years. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Yale in 1977, and his master of arts in American Material Culture from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in 1980.

The curator of 114 exhibitions during his tenure, Mr. Dietz is particularly proud of his work on The Newark Museum’s 1885 Ballantine House, which was re-interpreted and restored in 1994. His first ceramics exhibition was The Newark Museum Collection of American Art Pottery of 1984. A quarter-century later he produced Masterpieces of Art Pottery, 1880-1930 for the museum’s centennial. In 1997, Mr. Dietz was the project director for The Glitter & The Gold: Fashioning America’s Jewelry, the first-ever exhibition and book on Newark’s once-vast jewelry industry. In 2003, Mr. Dietz published Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics from Function to Fantasy, the first catalogue of the Museum’s studio pottery collection, which accompanied an exhibition of the same title. Additionally, Mr. Dietz has published numerous articles on decorative arts, as well as books on the Museum’s ceramics, 19th-century furniture, and jewelry collections

Bruce Johnson

Head, Heart and Hand: An Arts and Crafts Legacy

Founder The National Arts & Crafts Conference, Asheville, North Carolina

Born to a family of collectors, Bruce Johnson credits his father with one of his daily Rules of Life: “If you are going to do something, do it right.” When he discovered Arts and Crafts, Bruce shed himself of a house full of Golden Oak furniture and dove headfirst into the shark-infested waters of Arts and Crafts auctions, shows, dealers, and collectors. He freely admits his most important lessons came at a painful cost, but will openly share more than forty years of experiences with his audience at the AAPA spring convention.

Bruce Johnson has been an Arts and Crafts collector since 1979, when he came across a set of twelve Roycroft dining chairs in the basement of one of his Iowa City refinishing clients. After five earlier years as a Midwest high school English teacher, Bruce had become an antiques collector, dealer, mall owner, speaker, refinisher, columnist, and author. In 1988, he founded the National Arts and Crafts Conference and Shows at the 1913 Grove Park Inn overlooking Asheville, NC, and directed it for the next thirty-five years. In 1998, the Stickley Museum selected him as only the third recipient of their Als Ik Kan Award. Bruce has twenty books to his credit, half of which are related to the Arts and Crafts movement. He continues to write from the small horse farm he and his wife Leigh Ann continue to enjoy outside Asheville.

Paul Katrich

Electricity and Endurance: The High Voltage Pottery of Paul J. Katrich

Potter, Collector, Art Historian

A studio potter of almost thirty years, Paul J. Katrich is a modern traditionalist specializing in “lost” techniques and rare glazes. A sincere collector, degreed art historian, and sometime museum conservator, his work is informed by respect and fascination for his ceramic forebears. Paul’s unique luster pottery is highly individual and eagerly sought by connoisseurs. He will share anecdotes, secrets, and joys of the many challenges undertaken with his husband, George Lees, to establish an artistic enterprise. Anticipate a lively and irreverent conversation regarding process and perseverance, from tribulation to delight. Paul presently serves as AAPA Secretary, a post which he has been honored to hold for several years.

Ben Tyjeski

The Art of Building With Clay

Author, Teacher, Tile Artist, Architectural Historian

Ben Tyjeski, co-author of “Carl Bergmans and the Continental Faience & Tile Company” will share stories about handmade buildings with clay materials, specifically terra cotta and faience tiles, and his own artistic practice. He has traveled with his camera across the Midwest to piece together the history of how our ancestors used clay to create buildings with enduring beauty and character, that often tell stories. His journeys have inspired his own line of Arts & Crafts tiles that he creates in the studio in the garden behind his house. Ben is a K-8 Art teacher, faience tile artist, and architectural historian based in Milwaukee. He graduated with a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.