AFA 20th Anniversary

20th Anniversary 148 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com continued on page 155 American Folk Pottery: Art and Design by Angelika R. Kuettner with Suzanne Findlen Hood H ighlighting nearly fifty objects from its renowned folk art collection, Colonial Williamsburg’s new installation American Folk Pottery: Art and Design , on view in the Elisabeth M. and Joseph M. Handley Gallery at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, March 01, 2020, through December 31, 2022, features iconic objects from the collection and many recently acquired pieces on view for the first time. Potters are craftspeople; in the past they made vessels out of clay that were functional and designed to meet the needs of their communities. Their work reflects regional styles and traditions passed down through generations; and many modern folk potters draw from that rich legacy to create their wares, be they functional, aesthetic, or both. The early American pottery industry thrived on the manufacture of functional pieces like jugs, storage jars, and cream pots. Although potters designed their wares for everyday use, they chose to decorate their pottery with a variety of simple designs that would appeal to their customers. Nineteenth-century American pottery maps the migration of people and their traditions from region to region as the United States expanded. Potters from New England took their techniques to Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina. A generation or two later, potters from these same families sought their fortunes further south and west. They moved to Tennessee, Alabama, and Texas, leaving a trail of pottery with similar glazes, shapes, and handle constructions. By the turn of the twentieth century, distinctive American styles of pottery were being produced in almost every state. Who made it? The answer to this question is frequently unknown or more complicated than it seems. The lives of individual potters are almost always lost to us and this is particularly true in the case of free and enslaved African Americans. The exhibition acknowledges the lives of a few known African-American potters and the many unknown who created countless wares. The stories of women potters are also often unrecorded; and it is likely that many more vessels were created by female potters than are known today. The women potters highlighted in this exhibition were either born or married into potting communities. Like the men who made most of the pots in this exhibition, these women were many times motivated by the need to earn a living. Yet their work also expresses great artistry and skill that is frequently overshadowed by the work of their male counterparts.