Beautifully illustrated with richly detailed photographs, this volume traces the living heritage of locally made pottery in the English-speaking Caribbean. Patricia Fay combines her own expertise in making ceramics with two decades of interviews, visits, and participant-observation in the region, providing a perspective that is technically informed and anthropologically rigorous. Through the analysis of ceramic methods, Fay reveals that the traditional skills of local potters in the Caribbean are inherited from diverse points of origin in Africa, Europe, India, and the Americas.At the heart of the book is an in-depth discussion of the women potters of Choiseul, Saint Lucia, whose self-sufficient Creole lifestyle emerged in the nineteenth century following the emancipation of plantation slaves. Using methods inherited from Africa, today's potters adapt heritage practice for new contexts. In Nevis, Antigua, and Jamaica, related pottery traditions reveal skill sets derived from multiple West and Central African influences, and in the case of Jamaica, launched ceramics as a contemporary art form. In Barbados, colonial wheel and kiln technologies imported from England are evident in the many productive clay studios on the island. In Trinidad, Hindu ritual vessels are a key feature of a ceramic tradition that arrived with indentured labor from India, and in Guyana potters in both village and urban settings preserve indigenous Amerindian culture. Fay emphasizes the integral role relationships between mothers and daughters play in the transmission of skills from generation to generation. Since most pottery produced is intended for domestic use as cooking pots, serving vessels, and for water storage, women have been key to sustaining these traditions. But Fay's work also shows that these pots have value beyond their everyday usefulness. In the process of forming and firing, the diverse cultural heritage of the Caribbean becomes manifest, exemplifying the continuing encounter between old and new, local and global, and traditional and contemporary.

Collecting Staffordshire ceramic figures, a particularly English folk art, has expanded from its origins to include much of the English speaking world. This work, in two books, details and illustrates the range and depth of figures made by the potters. Over 2,900 figures are illustrated in the two books, virtually all in the brilliant color which was imperative for the beauty and simplicity of the figures to be fully appreciated. Many of these figures have never before been recorded. A history of the figures, together with sources and relevant bibliographical details, are included, along with a guide to current prices. Victorian Staffordshire Figures 1835-1875, Book Two details Religous and Temperance Figures; Hunters and Huntsmen; Shepherds, Gardeners, Harvesters, and Pastoral Scenes; Other Pursuits, Pastimes, and Occupations; Children with Animals; Dogs; Animals; Houses, Cottages, and Castles; and Sport and Miscellaneous.

In the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century, glass manufacturing was a unique enterprise in Canada. Beginning with the founding of the Nova Scotia Glass Company in 1881, the glass factories of Nova Scotia made clear tableware at a time when it was not made anywhere else in Canada.

By the 1800s, people had been making glass for more than 4,000 years. Before that, however, the mass production of glass was not technically possible. Pressing machines to produce glass shapes were invented in the 1830s in New England. As mechanization improved, decorated glassware could be produced relatively quickly and affordably. By the late 1880s, moulded and pressed glass was produced in Pennsylvania and Ohio, in New England, and, perhaps not surprisingly, in Nova Scotia.

In this beautifully illustrated book, featuring photographs of the highly collectable patterned tableware produced during this 40-year period, Deborah Trask tells the story of Nova Scotia glass during this golden age of pressed-glass production.

Employing her skills as a curator and a detective of sorts, she tells the story of the major glass factories -- the Nova Scotia Glass Company, the Humphrey Glass Company, and the Lamont Glass Company -- and provides crucial information on patterns and moulds, allowing readers and collectors to identify what remains of this glittering enterprise.

This beautiful book presents in large format the story of Margaret Tafoys's paramount place in the evolution of Tewa Pueblo pottery in Santa Clara, New Mexico. This monumental work is divided into four major sections examining a history of the Pueblo people, Margaret Tafoya's life, Santa Clara pottery making techniques, and the Tafoya family and descendants. Because Margaret Tafoya has adhered to the traditions of her pueblo in both her lifestyle and her ceramics, these traditions are now being passed on through her children and grandchildren. Margaret Tafoya demonstrates the very best in Tewa Pueblo pottery. Enhanced by the spectacular photographs-more than a hundred of which are in full color-this books presents a tribute to the Pueblo ceramic artisans in general and especially, to Margaret Tafoya-a living icon and vital bridge between Tewa past future.

Skin Crafts discusses multiple artists from global contexts who employ craft materials in works that address historical and contemporary violence. These artists are deliberately embracing the fragility of textiles and ceramics to evoke the vulnerability of human skin and - in so doing - are demanding visceral responses from viewers. Drawing on a range of theories including affect theory, material feminism, skin studies, phenomenology and global art history, the book illuminates the various ways in which artists are harnessing the affective power of craft materials to address and cope with violence. Artists from Mexico, Africa, China, the Netherlands and Indigenous artists based in the unceded territory known as Canada are examined in relation to one another to illuminate the connections and differences across their bodies of work. Skin Crafts interrogates ongoing material violence towards women and marginalized others, and demonstrates the power of contemporary art to force viewers and scholars into facing their ethical responsibilities as human beings.

Some of the most breathtaking art in America lies behind doors that few ever open. One such masterpiece is The Prophetic Quest, a series of ten monumental stained glass windows in the Keneseth Israel synagogue, just north of Philadelphia. This informative and exquisitely illustrated volume pulls back the curtain on this little-known work of art. Designed by the renowned American artist Jacob Landau, The Prophetic Quest encompasses ten masterful abstract pieces of stained glass that depict the lives and words of the biblical prophets, each towering nearly twenty-five feet high and spanning five feet across. Featuring essays recounting Landau’s vision, the history of his project, and detailed interpretive commentary on each window, this book presents an immersive experience of Landau’s religious masterwork. Personal reflections written by artists, art historians, poets, clergy, and congregants about their experience of The Prophetic Quest round out the volume with new ways to view and appreciate Landau’s creation. Gorgeously illustrated, this book sheds light on American synagogue art and the history of stained glass in America, and it cements Landau’s reputation as one of the leading American protest artists. The volume features essays by the editors as well as Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Rita Rosen Poley, and Lance J. Sussman, along with additional reflections from fifteen other contributors and the photography of Tom Crane.

The largest maps in the world are to be found in the floor of the Citizens' Hall, in the heart of the Royal Palace Amsterdam. The three circular mosaics, each measuring over six metres in diameter, together depict the known world and the night sky. They remain to this day an iconic and beloved part of the majestic palace, which was originally built in the mid-17th century to serve as Amsterdam's town hall. At that time, the city was the world's leading cartography centre. The prominent place of the floor maps relates directly to that primacy. This book tells the story of these unique maps and of the flourishing of cartography in Amsterdam in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Arte Vetraria Muranese (AVEM) emerged from the liquidation of Successori Andrea Rioda in November 1931. The new factory placed a very personal accent on contemporary artistic glass production on Murano: while designs prior to the Second World War were generally still the responsibility of master glassblowers themselves, after the war designers and freelance artists increasingly determined production. Giulio Radi began experimenting in 1940, obtaining the company's signature chromatic effects by superimposing mould-blown layers of glass, often opaque and transparent in alternation, and inlaying them with gold and silver foil. This latest volume of Marc Heireman's ongoing Murano manufactory books features over 800 design drawings, numerous archive images and new photos of AVEM masterpieces, making this anthology of the company's history indispensable for all Murano glass lovers.

The great 6th-century BCE Attic potter-painter Exekias is acclaimed as the most accomplished exponent of late 'black-figure' art. His vases, vessels, bowls and amphorae are reproduced on postcards and in other media all over the world. Despite his importance in the history of art and archaeology, little has been written about Exekias in his own right. Elizabeth Moignard, a leading historian of classical art, here corrects that neglect by addressing her subject as more than just a painter. She positions Exekias as a remarkable but nevertheless grounded and receptive man of his age, working in an Athens that was sensitive to Homeric literature and drawing on that great corpus of poetry to explore its own emerging concepts of honour, heroism, leadership and military tradition. Discussing a range of ceramic pieces, Moignard illustrates their impact and meaning, deconstructing iconic images like the suicide of Ajax; the voyage of Dionysus surrounded by dolphins; and the killing by Achilles of the Amazon queen Penthesilea. This book is the most complete introduction to its subject to be published in English.

This beautiful and absorbing book explores the remarkable collection of 'Professional Yorkshireman' W.A. Ismay MBE (1910-2001), the UK's most prolific collector of post-war British studio pottery. "I really do not know any employment of money more productive of an enhancement of one's daily life than that of buying good pots for daily use - they are so agreeable to handle that even washing-up becomes a pleasure rather than a chore!" W.A. Ismay W.A. Ismay amassed over 3,600 pieces by more than 500 potters between 1955 and 2001. Surrounded by his family of pots, he lived in a tiny terraced house in Wakefield, Yorkshire, and left his collection and its associated archive to the city of York upon his death. This eclectic collection contains objects created by many of the most significant potters working in the UK, such as Lucie Rie, Hans Coper, Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, as well as examples of work by lesser-known makers. Once he discovered a potter, Ismay supported them throughout their career, carefully assembling groups of work that off er succinct visual overviews of development in style and skill. What would become known as Ismay's Yorkshire Tea Ceremony encapsulates all the aspects of collecting handmade pottery which were important to him. Seeing himself as a temporary custodian of his collection, rather than the owner, he was keen to allow access and share it. Ismay enjoyed inviting people into his home, encouraging them to pick up items and experience them haptically. This social side of collecting generated close friendships which are revealed through the anecdotes, gossip, obsessions, opinions and touching gestures of support documented within Ismay's archive. The archive is a monumental and unique creation, which documents his extraordinary life and reveals intriguing glimpses into the development of his character, as well as the personal and societal changes that impacted his interests and activities. New academic research into a little-studied collection and archive explores Ismay's journey as a collector. This book offers fresh perspectives on a marginalized area of British modernism. Tracing the collection's journey from private to public ownership illuminates issues surrounding the acquisition by a museum of a large personal collection and archive, revealing the transformative effect it has had on both curatorial practice and the ambition of regional public institutions. The W.A. Ismay Collection offers a well-documented example of the valuable contribution collectors can make to the British studio ceramics movement. The publication of this research marks 20 years since the W.A. Ismay Collection moved from private to public ownership and to celebrate that anniversary, an exhibition of the collection will take place at York Art Gallery's Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA).

This book is the culmination of nearly thirty years' work in caring for, studying, and developing the collections in this Museum by Timothy Wilson, long-time Keeper of Western Art. Wilson is well-known as a specialist in the study of European Renaissance ceramics. The Ashmolean collections have their origins in the collection of C.D.E. Fortnum (1820-1899), but have been developed further in the last quarter-century, so that they can claim to be one of the top such collections of Renaissance ceramics worldwide. This book, containing 289 catalogue entries, will completely encompass the Museum's collection of postclassical Italian pottery, including pieces from excavations. In addition it will include catalogue entries for some seventy selected pieces of pottery from France, the Low Countries, England, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Mexico, in order to present a wide-ranging picture of the development of tin-glaze pottery from Islamic Spain through to recent times. It will also include an essay by Kelly Domoney of Cranfield University, and Elisabeth Gardner of the Ashmolean's Conservation Department, on the technical analysis and conservation history of some pieces in the collection.