Pisgah Forest Pottery vase

About the Arts and Crafts Movement:

Beginning in England in the early 1880s, the Arts and Crafts movement spread across the United States and Europe by the late 1880s. It celebrated the importance of beauty in everyday objects and urged a reconnection to nearby nature. The movement resisted the way industrial mass production undermined artisan crafts and was inspired by the ideas of artisan William Morris and writer John Ruskin. Valuing hand-made objects using traditional materials, it was known for a color palette of earth tones. Its artistic principles replaced realistic, colorful, and three-dimensional designs with more abstract and simplified forms using subdued tones. Stylized plant forms and matte glazes echoed a shift to quiet restraint in household décor. The Arts and Crafts movement also embraced social ideals, including respect for skilled hand labor and concern for the quality of producers’ lives. The movement struggled with the tension between the cost of beautiful crafts and the limited number of households able to afford them. Some potters relied on practical products such as drain tiles to boost income or supported themselves with teaching or publications. Arts and Crafts influence extended to other endeavors, including furniture, such as Stickley’s Mission Style, and architecture, such as the Arts and Crafts bungalow, built widely across the United States. American Arts and Crafts pottery flourished between 1880 and the first World War, though several potteries continued in successful operation into the later 20^th^ century.

About Pisgah Forest Pottery:

Walter Benjamin Stephen (1876-1961) grew up in a Tennessee pottery-making family, and at the age of 34 when his parents died, he partnered with C. P. Ryman to build a pottery in Mount Pisgah, North Carolina. That partnership ended, but Steven established Pisgah Forest Pottery near Asheville, North Carolina in 1926. The art pottery movement encouraged the use of local materials and designs, a major reason why many period artisans chose to work with earthenware clay, which is easier to source locally and comes in a variety of colors. In contrast, Pisgah Forest Pottery wares were made of high-fired porcelain, covered with a combination of matte and glossy glazes. Though some pieces were glazed in one solid, crystalline color, a matte darker surface with cameo-like white decorations was also successful. A covered wagon was one of Steven’s favorite designs. Walter Steven died in 1961, but the firm continued production under succeeding directors.

About the Object:

This 1931 vase features Stephen’s most popular design, a hand-painted white cameo of a covered wagon, complete with its entourage and a petite white dog. The band on its neck has a matte green glaze, the body has a glossy, textured, light brown glaze, and the inside is a typical, glossy pink. Popularized by Wedgwood at the end of the eighteenth century, white cameos were common decorative accents on both European and American ceramics. Traditionally, artisans used a “sprig mold”—a small, detailed mold impressed with a design—for ceramic cameos. Slip (liquid clay) would be poured into the molds and removed during the leather-hard stage, at which point it would be applied to the body of the main vessel. Instead, Stephen painted cameo decorations with a brush, applying multiple layers of slip to create his designs. The textured nature of the images created with this process contrasts sharply with the smooth surfaces of other pottery wares.

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