In February 1893, Florence Pratt Steward organized 15 of Chicago’s most talented female china decorators to create an exhibition of their work in the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Calling themselves the Atlan Ceramic Art Club, they made a creditable showing, winning 18 medals, more than any other club in the country.

The Atlan’s goal was to develop a style of ceramic decoration that would be “original” and “distinctly American.” Toward this end, members adopted “conventional” decoration—the stylization and original configuration of plants and other motifs drawn from nature—as the only acceptable style for their work. It soon became the club’s trademark

Sharon S. Darling is the author of numerous essays and publications on Chicago creativity. While curator of decorative and industrial arts at the Chicago History Museum, 1972–1986, she produced a series of award-winning exhibitions and publications on Chicago metalwork, ceramics, glass, and furniture. She served as director of Motorola Inc.’s corporate museum, 1986–2007. Since then, she has contributed essays on Arts and Crafts jewelry and decorative arts made in Chicago and Illinois for various exhibition catalogues and publications. Her 2024 book, Women, Enterprise, Craft: Chicago’s Atlan Ceramic Art Club, 1893–1923, received the Decorative Arts Society’s Charles F. Montgomery Prize. Darling is a graduate of North Carolina State University, Duke University, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.