Arts and Crafts Pottery

At the turn of the twentieth century, Americans were captivated by the concept of “Arts & Crafts” pottery. Throughout the country professional artisans as well as amateur ceramists, many of them women, were creating works that were both beautiful and functional. Nationwide, from New England’s Grueby and Marblehead potteries to Cincinnati’s renowned Rookwood Pottery to Newcomb College in New Orleans and Van Briggle Pottery of Colorado Springs, Americans responded to William Morris’ dictum: “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Proponents of the Arts and Crafts movement responded to the crassness of mechanized society by insisting on “beauty in common things.”Where work had once been viewed in a negative light, manual labor was now seen as favorable, having a redemptive value. “Joy in one’s labor” became a noble maxim to live by, and beauty was measured in terms of the worker’s personal happiness. The Arts and Crafts movement app