The May meeting of the WSNY will be held on Tuesday May 9, 1998 at 8:00 PM at the Lighthouse, 111 East 59th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, New York, NY. The speakers for the evening will be Rob Hunter and Michelle Erickson, entitled "A Workshop in English Ceramic History and Technology."
This combination lecture and workshop will discuss and demonstrate the basic clay technology used by eighteenth-century English potters to create both form and decoration, In particular, the various techniques used in creating English slipware will be demonstrated including sliptrailing and surface marble-izing. In contrast, the use of various solid clays to create agatewares will also be shown. By exploring these techniques of ceramic production, a better understanding of both design and social history can be obtained. Of particular interest will be the making of an eighteenth-century puzzle jug demonstrating how a seemingly complex vessel form can be thrown quickly and efficiently. Questions and discussion by the audience will be welcomed throughout the demonstration.
Rob Hunter is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University with a M.A. in Anthropology from the College of William and Mary with additional graduate study in American Studies. He has twenty years of professional experience in historical archaeology working on both terrestrial and underwater sites throughout Virginia and North Carolina. Mr. Hunter was the founding director of the William and Mary Center for Archaeological Research. He also served on the curatorial staff in the Department of Collections at Colonial Williamsburg. Most recently, he has been involved in the reassessment of the archaeological holdings at Jamestown Island, He is a partner in the business PERIOD DESIGNS; a innovative firm specializing the in the reproduction of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century decorative arts, He has lectured widely on ceramics, and has acquired a number of important objects for many museums including the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the British Museum, and the Smithsonian Institution. He is author of the seminal article "English Shell-Edge Earthenwares," The Magazine ANTIQUES with George L Miller; March 1994) and "English Delft from Williamsburg's Archaeological Contexts" in John C. Austin's British Delft at Williamsburg.
Michelle Erickson is a graduate of The College of William and Mary with a B.F.A. in Fine and Performing Arts. In addition, to her considerable contemporary ceramic work, Ms. Erickson has over fifteen years experience in working with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century reproduction pottery. As owner of Michelle Erickson Pottery, Inc., she produces reproductions for organizations such as Colonial Williamsburg, the National Park Service., Parks Canada, and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts. She has lectured and demonstrate her work widely including places such as Williamsburg's Antiques Forum, Winterthur. Sotheby's Learning weekends and the British Museum. She is a partner in the business PERIOD DESIGNS in Yorktown, Virginia, an innovative firm specializing the in the reproduction seventeenth- and eighteenth-century decorative arts.