I love the sound and feel of thin porcelain softly clicking. Glass is beautiful, but I haven't discovered another sound so satisfying and comforting as this. I'm beginning to understand my mother's porcelain addiction.

from M&D

My parents give good gifts. I love watching my father get so excited about the things he's finding for my mother throughout the year. This year especially showed how well they know me, and what I like. My loot included a ceramic gin label, for my favorite beverage, and a little ambrotype. A little girl is pictured wearing a headdress of some sort. I'm going to have to do a little research on this. The funny part is, that I almost bought this for myself in Cleveland (and my parents had no idea).

for the boss with everything

I wanted something for my supervisor, to say thank you for the wonderful year. She is one of those women with everything, so I thought I would try and make something.

So here I am with my supplies: linoleum and cutter, pen/pencil, paints, etc. I already had the brayer, and blank cards with envelopes from the fancy paper store. I made a little template from a photo of vases in the Ellison collection out on the mezzanine. You should visit the "new" American Wing, they will be instantly recognizable!

After a couple tries, I decided the notecard looked a little funny with the little vases on a totally white background, so I smooshed on more ink and pressed harder when printing. Okay, so they aren't great works of art. This was my first attempt at a linocut (though I think I like it!). And the colors are perhaps brighter than a classy person would prefer. But, the subject matter is personal, meaningful, and Nonnie will totally get it.

Us again. This is the last, I swear.

I did not read the paper paper today, but here we are on the "front page" of the Times online. Holland Cotter's review was very nice; kind of funny.

I like his ending:
"Is this extreme piece of American eclecticism merely weird or really beautiful? Is it pop art or high craft or low-taste or no-taste, or what? Whatever it is, it is very right there, too preposterous to be pretentious, too busy to be self-conscious, too consumption-driven to be precious. A lot of art in the American Wing is like that and like it or not — and I do like it, sort of — it is us."

There is also a narrated panorama and a slide show. The slide show doesn't have any photos of the Ellison collection though - although there is a quote about it next to some of our redware - is that a mistake?

Edit: other mistakes - Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen's name totally wrong; George E. Ohr's name wrong; well, other typos... come on New York Times!!

Michelle Erickson

If it isn't obvious, Michelle Erickson is COOL. I met her very briefly last year during Antiques Forum at Williamsburg (though I'm 100% sure she has no recollection of meeting me - you know how it is...). She makes reproduction ceramics, but I love her contemporary work in which she references the past in some pretty cheeky ways. My favorite from her website is this pickle stand, which is like a Bonnin & Morris example that we recently installed on the balcony, but with "made in China" added. When I saw some of her work last year, there were some really cool pieces... one I think had gilt ammo incorporated, if I remember correctly.

Now I Have Two "Priceless" Possessions

Last night I brought home my pot. My stoneware pot. I saw it through the window of an antique shop on the property of Mass MoCA Saturday evening, and the next morning I was able to get my hands on it! It was produced by Horace Goodwin and Mack Webster of Hartford, CT. They were working from around 1810 to 1840, and in 1824 (so says an advertisement in the Hartford Times and Advertiser), they were selling their wares from Front Street, "40 rods south of State Street." The museum has a similar example. The shop also had a few Norton vessels, with a bit more decoration, but I love the plain, utilitarian versions. Instead of buying a new dress for our big opening in May, I now own the pot.

Spatterware!

Ah, spatterware. I borrowed this snippet of Spatterware Hall at Winterthur from an article in Traditional Home magazine. According to our curator there are over 1300 pieces of this stuff in this room, which is probably why it's not appreciated by students in my program. We've got so much of it, I always wondered why it was desirable. After seeing this stuff bring pretty high prices at the auction last week, I asked my boss (a super-knowledgeable antiques dealer) about it. He told me that, in the scheme of things, there really isn't that much of this out there. I guess we have most of it (the "mother lode" according to TH magazine). I'll let you go read about it on your own: this is not a history of spatterware. I will also refrain from discussing my personal feelings about these ceramics. People I've encountered tend to have pretty visceral reactions to it, good and bad.

On a related topic, I actually like Traditional Home, though the name turned me off at first. Sure, I can't afford anything in it, but it's not about that for me. I'm not shopping. I like their antiques and collecting section, which is often written or produced by the Kenos. And, I appreciate that you can read a lot of their articles online for free.