The artistry of ceramics will be the focus of lecture topics and events at the 55th Annual Wedgwood International Seminar (WIS) to be held in the heart of America’s scholarship on the subject – Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. With Colonial Williamsburg the venue for this year’s conference, attendees will enjoy some of the best speakers on Wedgwood and other decorative arts topics, as well as museum and plantation tours.
From April 28 to May 1, the WIS will host "Ceramics Artistry: Wedgwood, America, and Beyond" with the lectures being held at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and lodging accommodations at the Williamsburg Woodlands Hotel and Suites. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Janine Skerry, curator of metals, and Suzanne Findlen Hood, associate curator of ceramics and glass, are co-authors of the most recently published book, Salt-glazed Stoneware in Early America and will deliver lectures on the book’s topic and on 18th century ceramics in Colonial America, respectively. Ms. Skerry will provide a guided tour of the museum’s current exhibition "Pottery with a Past: Stoneware in Early America."
The lecture lineup also includes: ‘Wedgwood’s Pearl white versus China glaze’, delivered by Ceramics in America editor, Robert Hunter; ‘Wedgwood & Spode’ by Don Carpentier, a potter, founder of Eastfield Village, and rescuer of buildings and potters’ tools; and from Julian Wedgwood, two talks – ‘Keith Murray’, whose work he collects extensively, and ‘How Wedgwood saved America Post WWI’. In addition, the subject of ‘Wedgwood, the Etruscans, and the Greeks’ will be presented by anthropologist and Ithaca College professor emeriti, Dr. Nancy Ramage; and from Dr. Anne Forschler-Tarrasch, curator of decorative arts for the Birmingham Museum of Art which houses 10,000 pieces of Wedgwood, a talk on the special ‘Portland Vase at the BMA’.
In addition to touring the Dewitt Wallace, trips to the Chrysler Museum of Art and the Berkley and Shirley plantations round out the agenda, along with a special appearance by the Lord Wedgwood. Attendees will also have the convenience of purchasing Wedgwood wares from member dealers and the pleasure of meeting new and old fellow collectors and ceramics enthusiasts.
All lectures, receptions, banquets, lunches, and tours are covered by the modest registration fee. And the special hotel rate includes a continental breakfast. To obtain more information on the seminar, registration, and the hotel, and to make your reservations now, check the Web site at: www.wedgwoodinternationalseminar.org or contact Director of Seminars, Mickey Hightower by e-mail at: Secretary@wedgwoodinternationalseminar.org.
The WIS organization, which first gathered in Philadelphia in 1956, has held its annual seminars in major cities in the USA, Canada, the UK, and elsewhere. These conferences offer the opportunity for Wedgwood enthusiasts the world over to gain expanded insight into the related topics, visit private and public collections, and network in an informal forum. In addition, WIS members (whether in attendance or not) receive a bound copy of the Proceedings. Annual membership fee is $35 per individual and $50 per family (+ $10 for outside USA). And Paypal payments are now accepted for both membership and seminar fees.