WILLIAMSBURG, VA.- While American potters created clay vessels for their functionality and designed them to meet the needs of their communities, their work also reflected the regional styles and traditions that were passed down through generations.
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, one of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, celebrates the work of these craftspeople in American Folk Pottery: Art and Tradition, a new exhibition which opened on June 14. Through nearly 50 objects made between 1790-2008, the form, function and whimsy of this distinctly American folk art is featured through longtime treasures of Colonial Williamsburg’s collection, recent acquisitions on view for the first time and special objects on loan from renowned private collections. The exhibition will remain on view through December 31, 2022.
American Folk Pottery examines themes of regionalism and style traditions, women potters, and free and enslaved African-American potters. It also addresses the blurred lines between functional and whimsical pots made in the folk art tradition past and present. The exquisitely formed and decorated pots range in origin from Massachusetts to New Mexico.
“The Folk Art Museum’s collections extend in date from the eighteenth century to the present day, and this very handsome exhibition illustrates that broad range,” said Ronald L. Hurst, Colonial Williamsburg’s Carlisle H. Humelsine chief curator and vice president for museums, preservation, and historic resources. “These pieces also illuminate a diverse array of cultural influences, from American Indian potters in the Southwest to the European-influenced wares of the Northeast.”
Among the highlights of American Folk Pottery is a flower pot attributed to Enos Smedley (1805-1882). The lead-glazed earthenware flowerpot was made and inscribed for Elizabeth Canby and is a remarkable example of a utilitarian object that has survived over time. Not only does it bear Elizabeth’s name, but the inscription also includes “Brandywine,” the Wilmington, Delaware, home Elizabeth shared with her husband, Robert. Smedley was known for crafting similar vessels with the same distinctive ruffled rim and incised decoration. This piece descended in the original owner’s family until it was given to Colonial Williamsburg in the early 1980s.
“There is something for everyone in this exhibition. Folk art afficionados will see some familiar friends among the pots featured,” said Angelika R. Kuettner, Colonial Williamsburg’s associate curator of ceramics and glass. “The exhibition is particularly special, however, because, alongside those objects, it presents recently acquired pieces and allows us to share them with the public in new ways – each object admired for its beautiful glaze, decoration and shape, and the story it tells.”
Crafted by not one but three members of the Crocker family in Georgia, a stunning jardinière (or plant stand) made in 1997 is another especially unique object that is featured in the exhibition. Made of ash-glazed stoneware, Michael Crocker threw the body of the vessel, his brother Melvin (born 1959) sculpted the extraordinarily realistic snake that is coiled around the stand and their mother, Pauline (1917-2007), expertly modeled the flowers that envelop the piece. This two-part object is truly the embodiment of a family pottery production. The jardinière is from the collection of the late Daisy Wade Bridges, a North Carolina collector and pottery scholar who generously donated this and several other objects to Colonial Williamsburg. The plant stand was a focal point of her beautiful garden until she gifted it to the Foundation in 2010.
Another highlighted vessel to be seen in American Folk Pottery is a five-gallon syrup jug made of ash-glazed stoneware by South Carolinian David Drake (1801-ca. 1875) between 1850-1860. Drake, an enslaved African-American potter, created vessels distinguished by their large size and, in some instances, their inscribed verses. He is the only known enslaved potter who signed and dated his wares. This action was risky because South Carolina had outlawed literacy among enslaved people. Although this jug is not embellished with poetry, at almost 17 inches tall and 15 inches in diameter, is has the scale associated with Drake’s work. Other distinctive features include the impressed thumbprint at the base of each handle and five incised punctuates at the neck to indicate its five-gallon capacity. Syrup jugs held fresh molasses, the principal sweetener in the Southerner’s diet. Although popular in the South, the form is virtually unknown in other parts of the country.
American Folk Pottery was curated by Ms. Kuettner and Suzanne Findlen Hood, the former curator of ceramics and glass at The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. The exhibition was generously funded through a gift from Senator and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller IV.
With its variety of superbly crafted and adorned pots, there is certain to be something in American Folk Pottery: Art and Tradition to catch each visitor’s eye.
