Article by Ron Ortiz
To celebrate Michigan State University's Sesquicentennial in 2005, the Kresge Art Museum will mount an exhibition of Pewabic Pottery drawn from the Pottery's collection, Michigan art museums and several private collections across the United States. Pewabic was founded in 1903 by Mary Chase Perry (later Stratton) and her partner, Horace Caulkins, at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement. The show will place some of the finest pieces produced at Pewabic in the context art pottery. Known for its iridescent glazes, Pewabic produced vessels, tiles and architectural ornamentation.
The exhibition will cover the 100 years of Pewabic's history. Mary Chase Stratton's earliest China painted pieces show her participation in this movement that attracted women and swept the country in the late 19th century. Several rare "Revelation" pots, produced prior to using the Pewabic name, show the early beginnings of Stratton's production. Early Pewabic pots from the 1910s and 1920s, some of which have raised designs, show her experimenting. The encouragement of Charles Lang Freer and his influence on her experiments in iridescent glazes will be explored. William Buck Stratton, her architect husband, was active at the pottery as well and the exhibition will bring together for the first time a nice selection of his pieces. Whereas Mary Stratton focused on glazes, frequently using pots thrown by others, Buck was more attuned to working on the potters wheel and producing his own pots. Tile commissions in residences, churches and commercial commissions will be illustrated in photographs. The MSU years (1966-1981) and the Pewabic Society, Incorporated, which took over in 1979 will be included.
The critical role that MSU played in Pewabic's history is little known but will be celebrated in the exhibition. In 1966, when the pottery was near insolvency, ownership was transferred to MSU, which operated it as part of MSU's outreach mission until 1979 when a private, nonprofit Pewabic Society was established to oversee the pottery's operations. Without MSU's support, the wonderful 1907 Tudor Revival building, now a National Historic Landmark in Detroit, would have been razed, and the pottery's legacy would have been lost. Instead, Pewabic celebrated it's 100th anniversary in 2003 and thrives today as an educational institution and the Midwest's only historic pottery, creating tiles and vessels, showcasing ceramic artists from around the country, and taking on large commissions such as the tile work at Comerica Park.
Over 80 examples, primarily from Pewabic's earlier years (1910s-1940s), will be on view, borrowed mainly from Michigan private and public collections. A catalogue with an essay by KAM curator April Kingsley and guest curator Thomas W. Brunk will accompany the exhibition.
