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The following article appeared in WPA Press, Vol. 16, Spring 2003
Ohio Art Pottery - To Have & to Hold Into the business of editing a newsletter, some writing of content must fall. When asked recently what this Spring 2003 WPA Press was featuring, I listed several items, to which my interviewer replied “I thought it had an Ohio pottery focus.” As all editors know, finding a writer for any focus is not an easy task. Now, to clear things up, Ohio pottery should be included in this newsletter, because the Wisconsin Pottery Association expends a good deal of effort every twelve months dreaming up a lovely exhibit for our annual Show and Sale. More accurately, the exhibit dreamed up, and then painstakingly stitched together by a few devoted founding club members, and, hopefully their newer counterparts, known herein as the “flunkees”. Note that in this case, flunkee is not the worst situation to be in, because when invaluable fragile ceramics is at stake, flunkees are not allowed to do the bulk of the work of positioning pieces for an exhibit (unlike most flunkee-ed situations). It’s too dangerous to let the uninitiated get their hands on irreplaceable wares. Only our senior club members are allowed the opportunity to break things. And so it should be; I’m guessing they have more experience in breakage than we the uninitiated have. I digress. The Wisconsin Pottery Association (WPA) is sponsoring, as the following article notes, their annual August Show and Sale, this year celebrating the pottery of Ohio. And yes, Tim Z. (who will remain unnamed), this newsletter should thus feature Ohio pottery! We want people to be thinking about and planning to attend this August 23, 2003 event in Madison, WI, and if we speak on the merits of the subject at hand, if we “build it” perhaps they will come. So without further ado, I give you “Ohio Pottery--To Have and To Hold”. To begin, I lean on our late and learned friend Dr. Marion John Nelson, who in his book “Art Pottery of the Midwest” notes Ohio’s “leading position” in the mid-western American art pottery movement. Indeed, one can easily count Ohio’s potteries: Roseville, Rookwood, Peters and Reed, McCoy and Cowan, to name a few. Why Ohio? The abundance of good quality clay was certainly a factor leading to the development of a ceramics industry, as well as the unique collaborations between artists and industrialists that Nelson says characterizes American art pottery. In a number of Ohio cities potteries already existed for the production of utility wares and these potteries presented young ceramic artists with jobs and an industry in which to display their talents. The location on major waterways also made shipping a simple matter. These already-in-place potteries were ready practically and business-wise to feed the demand for art pottery. The utility wares allowed potteries the business stability to venture into experimental lines of art pottery. This combination of smart, experienced ceramics business people, combined with location and high-quality clay, and artists hungry for work, made Ohio prime territory for the American Art Pottery movement. The stabilizing influence of a utilitarian ceramics base was true for several of the major Ohio art pottery makers, Roseville, Owens and Weller. Roseville’s experimental lines such as Della Robbia and Mongol would have been too costly had it not been for the bread-and-butter lines that paid the bills. There’s the Rookwood Pottery, which became a darling of the Art Pottery world while specializing in realistically decorated pieces with soft shading in the under-glaze technique, followed by their adoption of the up-and-coming style of undecorated, or incised monochrome shaded matt-glazed pottery, which remained a staple of Rookwood’s line until the 1950s. Maria Longworth Nichols founded the Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio in an old school house. Early pottery produced included art pottery and utilitarian wares, including some undecorated pieces for amateur decorators. Her father, an arts patron, provided the financial support to keep the pottery open during the early years—the pottery did not make a profit until about 1890. William Watts Taylor joined the pottery as administrator and partner in 1883. When Longworth Nichols’ mother retired from the business in 1890 she sold her interest to Taylor; that year the pottery became a stock company with Taylor as president. Rookwood gained international recognition by winning a gold medal at the 1889 Exposition in Paris, and a gold medal at the Exposition of American Art Industry in Philadelphia. Business grew rapidly and a new factory overlooking the Ohio River and downtown, near the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Art Academy, was built around 1892. Rookwood’s investment in developing new clays and glazes helped ensure their success; several new lines were introduced in the 1890s, and matt glaze in about 1901. When Taylor died suddenly in 1913, Joseph Henry Gest was named president. Rookwood survived the depression and WWI, but never had a strong financial period with Gest and in 1934 he resigned. J.D. Wareham replaced Gest and the pottery entered a long period of financial reconstructions and lay-offs. By 1967 there was very little demand for pottery and operations ended. In 1983 Dr. Arthur J. Townley purchased the Rookwood Pottery Company name and molds, but items produced have been limited mostly to paperweights, and products are dated and signed. There reportedly has been no attempt to manufacture articles with the old Rookwood marks. The Rookwood marks include an embossed “ROOKWOOD”, sometimes an artist’s signature, the well-known back-to-back, conjoined Rs with lines radiating from the top, (as if from a light bulb) and sometimes a letter, such as “S” to indicate that the piece was produced during a special dignitary’s visit, “V” for vellum or “X” identifying it as a factory second. Also designations for experimental designs and dates were marked. Wheatley Pottery, founded in Cincinnati by T.J. Wheatley, was the first Ohio pottery to introduce a line of matt green pieces, in direct imitation of Grueby Pottery from Massachusetts. The precise moment of Wheatley’s entry into matt green is not know, but it is estimated to have been around 1903-05. Wheatley was considered by many a brash and enterprising man who not only saw the appeal of matt green glaze, but also recognized that the Grueby style of low-relief surface decoration could just as well have been made for casting in a mold, at a time when art pottery makers were seeing the value in mass produce their wares. Designs usually had vertical lines perfect for concealing mold marks and the covering of heavy, textured opaque glaze obscured precise methods of production. Wheatley played a role in founding the Cincinnati Art Pottery in 1880, as well as T.J. Wheatley and Company, 1880-82, and the Wheatley Pottery Company with Isaac Kahn in 1903. Modeled and molded pieces were created. Wheatley was known to create molds of pieces already known to be desired by the public, capturing a part of the market that could not afford the more expensive originals. Wheatley began to produce garden pottery sometime around 1909, imitating antique forms. His plant was destroyed by fire in 1910 and he continued to manufacture the garden pottery, but it appears that art pottery production never resumed. By the time Wheatley died in 1917 his efforts were entirely devoted to making faience tiles, garden furniture, bird baths, vases and boxes. Art pottery pieces from the Wheatley Pottery Company were signed with conjoined WP within a circle, either impressed or on an attached paper label. Architectural and faience products were signed “Wheatley” in block letters or with impressed catalog numbers. During the time T.J. Wheatley was opening new potteries, Guy Cowan was graduating from college (1907) with a Bachelor’s of Science in Ceramic Engineering, and entering the job market. He assumed the title of “boss potter” at the Shenango Pottery Company of New Castle, PA. About this time Shenango decided to enter into the hotel china production business. However, this job was short-lived, as a national depression practically shut the pottery down and Cowan was laid off. Eventually the right job came along, in Cleveland, Ohio, where Cowan earned a position in a new technical high school in 1908. He was hired to manage clay mixing of and firing. The position allowed him the facilities for experimentation during his free time. And experiment he did, with different firing temperatures, different kiln types and various glaze types, and all combinations of the aforementioned. In the meantime, Cleveland’s high school students began to study pottery as part of the regular art curriculum, making it the first of the crafts, as a method of practicing their study of form and applied ornament. Cowan began making studio pottery in 1909, a natural development growing from his glaze and body tests for the program at East Technical High. In 1913, feeling that the high school ceramics program would do fine without him, and encouraged and backed by people of influence in Cleveland, Cowan opened the Cleveland Pottery and Tile Company, whose first home was a remodeled bowling alley in Lakewood, Ohio. Cowan enlisted in the Army in 1917 at which time production ceased; however, when he returned in 1919 he immediately reopened the business. The business was relocated in 1921 to Rocky River, Ohio. At this time demand was steadily increasing and marketing was expanded to include many finer retail stores such as Marshall Fields. Cowan and the talented artists in his employment were among the most award-winning potters of the time. Guy L. Rixford, Arthur Baggs, Alexander Blazys, Thelma Frazier, Jose Martin, Waylande Gregory and Victor Schreckengost all made pottery for Cowan’s studio. In 1927 the company name was changed to Cowan Pottery Studio. At this time the Lakeware line was introduced as an inexpensive product for use mainly by florists. Financial difficulties forced a reorganization in 1929 and the business was changed to Cowan Potters, Inc. However, the Great Depression continued, forcing the company into bankruptcy by the end of 1930. Under court supervision production continued until 1931. Most Cowan pottery is signed and several marks were used, some of which include include “Cowan”, LAKEWARE, or “Cowan” combined with the letters “RG”, placed above it. Ah, so much Ohio pottery, so little space to discuss it. The hope is that you’ve found some interesting information here and that you’ll consider joining us in August, in Madison, to actually see these pieces. There are many more Ohio potteries than the several mentioned here, so plenty more to see and learn about. Our August 2003 exhibit will include informational literature and guides that know far more than this author does. The exhibit will also include pottery not mentioned here. And finally, if you come to see the exhibit, entitled “Ohio Spectrum”, you can look for, and perhaps purchase your own piece of Ohio pottery, be it McCoy or Rookwood. That would make it your own “Ohio Pottery--To Have and to Hold” Related Pages:
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