Views Navigation

Event Views Navigation

Today

Celebrating the Matriarchs: Pottery by American Indian Women

Junior League of Houston 1811 Briar Oaks Lane, Houston, TX

Colleen Gold will discuss the tradition of pottery making in American Pueblo Indian life which is one of their most enduring traditions. What was once considered Folk Art by many has become recognized as Fine Art today and is avidly collected by many. Ima Hogg was an early collector, and her pieces are in the collection at MFAH. Traditionally made primarily by women in matriarchal societies spread across New Mexico and Arizona, these objects reflect both their personal innovations and a solid grounding in a 2,000-year-old tradition which influences the composition, form, and decoration of the pots to this day.

“Ceramic Art of the American Southwest in the MFAH Collection”

Lora Jean Kilroy Center, MFAH 6003 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX

Presented by Chelsea Dacus,
Assistant Curator of the Arts of the Indigenous Americas, Africa, the Pacific, and Antiquities, and Assistant Curator of Ancient Art

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

“Dining at the White House: American Presidential China in the McNeil Americana Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art”

Lora Jean Kilroy Center, MFAH 6003 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX

Presented by David Barquist, H. Richard Dietrich Jr. Curator of American Decorative Arts
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. David Barquist, world renowned expert, will chronicle the history of porcelain table wares owned and used by American presidents and their families for public and private dining. As part of the most highly visible household in the nation, the presidential china in the McNeil Americana Collection offers an overview of the changing styles, tastes, and modes of entertaining across four centuries of American history, from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. The lecture will also look at the changes over time in the ceramics available to fashion-conscious Americans, from goods imported from China and Europe to domestically-made products.

“Shipping, Shopping, and Collecting: Three Centuries of Ceramics at the Peabody Essex Museum”

Lora Jean Kilroy Center, MFAH 6003 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX

Presented by R. Ruthie Dibble, Ph.D.
The Robert N. Shapiro Curator of American Decorative Art, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
While the Peabody Essex Museum is known for its Chinese export porcelain, the museum also stewards an important, fascinating, and lesser known collection of ceramics from England, Europe, New England, and the broader Americas. This talk will highlight the rich and varied ceramics that fall under PEM’s American Decorative Art department and explore the intersection of trade and collecting, artistry and industry, that shapes each pot and the collection as a whole.