You are invited to our Annual GPI Kick-Off Party!  Come to the 25^th Annual Grove Park Inn Arts & Crafts Conference a day early and kick off the weekend with an evening of casual fun and entertainment in the Homespun Shops of Biltmore Industries, just steps from GPI.

Join us on Thursday, February 16 for the festivities.  Begin the evening at our welcome table in the Estes-Winn Memorial Automobile Museum (open just for us!), enjoy local beers and wines during cocktail hour, and choose one of two seatings to indulge in a dinner menu that embraces the regional fare.

Author, historian, and art-potter, Rodney Leftwich, will speak on the pottery tradition of Western North Carolina.

But that’s not all! The North Carolina, bluegrass string-band Country Farm, is sure to liven things up even more with toe-tapping performances throughout the evening.

We’ll cap off this enjoyable evening with a fascinating lecture by our featured speaker, well-known author, historian and art potter Rodney Leftwich.  A native of Western North Carolina, Rodney Leftwich is a full-time potter, deeply inspired by the history of North Carolina pottery.  He exhibits his work at GPI each year, has written numerous articles and essays on art pottery, and has personally researched and collected works by the region’s early potters.  His talk, The Pottery Tradition of Western North Carolina, will cover a range of topics including the utilitarian origins of art pottery in the Asheville area, and the works of Walter B. Stephen and Oscar Bachelder.

Your all-inclusive party ticket includes: museum and gallery visit, cocktails, live music, pottery lecture by Rodney Leftwich, dinner and dessert. Tickets are $140 each.

Download the Reservation Form here or check our website for more information.  Advanced reservations are required! So don’t wait!

North Carolina bluegrass string-band, Country Farm, will perform at this year's GPI Kick-Off Party!

Don’t Miss this Pull-Out-the-Stops Good Time! is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

If you were among the more than 70 guests who attended Jonathan Clancy’s lecture here at Craftsman Farms on Saturday, April 4, you may be interested in knowing more about the topic of American Art Pottery. Dr. Clancy, lecturer in American Fine & Decorative Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, will be giving a seminar at the upcoming American Art Pottery Association’s convention later this month. He is co-author with Dr. Eidelberg of Beauty in Common Things, American Arts and Crafts Pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation and he will give an overview of the Foundation’s collection, its significant pieces, and research discoveries.

Clancy’s seminar is one of three to be offered at the AAPA’s 29^th annual convention in Philadelphia on April 22 – 26, 2009. The convention will be headquartered at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel in Langhorne, Pennsylvania (located near I-95 and Route 1) and will feature tours, seminars, and educational exhibits.

The keynote presentation at the annual reception and banquet on the evening of April 22^nd will be given by Dr. Martin Eidelberg, Professor Emeritus of Art History at Rutgers University and noted author on American ceramics and glass. His topic will be Arts and Crafts Pottery: What’s In A Name?

Suzanne Perrault, tile expert, author, Craftsman Auctions partner, and Antiques Roadshow appraiser, will lead a seminar on collecting, discussing why it doesn’t have to be big, expensive, or a superstar to be worthy of collecting. Unusual and noteworthy objects can come in unassuming packages.

Prominent contemporary potters Paul Katrich (Katrich Studios), Scott Draves (Door Pottery), Eric Olsen (Common Ground Pottery), and Chris Powell (Chris Powell Pottery) will share insights about their work and the future of art pottery.

The convention will also include an art pottery auction, featuring several hundred lots of vintage and contemporary art pottery, to be held Friday, April 24^th at 5:00 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel Philadelphia Northeast, with a preview at 3:30 p.m. The auction will be conducted by Greg Belhorn of Belhorn Auction Services, LLC.

The country’s greatest two-day pottery show and sale, featuring more than fifty pottery dealers will be held at the headquarters hotel on Saturday, April 25^th and Sunday, April 26^th. A special exhibit will accompany the show and will feature American Arts & Crafts pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation collection. Registered members are offered a private viewing and sale on Saturday from 11:00 a.m. – 12 noon followed by the general public from noon – 5:00 p.m. Saturday, and from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $6.00 per person for non-convention registered members and the general public. Activities scheduled as part of the show include hourly prizes and “Booth Chats” on both days, plus a pottery ID table on Sunday.

The 2009 convention also features two tours. On Wednesday, April 22 we will welcome the group for a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms. This event is already sold out.

The Thursday, April 23^rd bus tour will include a private viewing of the Gordon collection of Rookwood pottery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After lunch at the museum, attendees will have free time to explore the museum, featuring separate special exhibits on Cezanne, Matisse, and 20^th century Japanese crafts, or walk to nearby Fairmount Park and enjoy landmarks such as the Fairmount Waterworks and Boathouse Row.

Various convention attendance packages and day rates are available. All events are open to the public. For more information, visit AAPA. For more information contact our good friend, Arnie Small, President of American Art Pottery Association at PotsInACNJ@aol.com

Want To Learn More About Art Pottery? is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms

This year’s Annual Spring Members’ Reception will feature a lecture by Jonathan Clancy on “Pottery of the Arts and Crafts Movement.” In his lecture, arranged especially for this event by the American Art Pottery Association, Clancy will offer an overview of the movement and discuss the distinction between Art Pottery and Arts and Crafts Pottery. He will examine the major figures of the movement and the sources they looked to for inspiration.

About Our Speaker: Clancy is on the faculty of Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York, recently curated the exhibition Beauty in Common Things: American Arts and Crafts Pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation with Martin Eidelberg. Clancy’s lecture will feature many important examples of American Arts and Crafts pottery from the collection of the Two Red Roses Foundation, which are currently on exhibit at the museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida. In addition, he will provide a summary of some of the important discoveries that were made while the exhibition and its accompanying catalog were prepared. Clancy co-authored the catalog with Eidelberg, and following the lecture, he will sign copies of the catalog in the museum shop.

Clancy received his doctorate in art history from the City University of New York’s Graduate Center in 2008 and is currently preparing a book that traces the impact of Transcendentalism on American art and culture. His article “Elbert Hubbard, Transcendentalism, and the Arts and Crafts Movement in America,” has been accepted to The Journal of Modern Craft (London) and will be published in July 2009. In addition, he has written on Rookwood Pottery, the Marblehead Potteries, and presented numerous conference papers on American Fine and Decorative Arts.

Art Pottery Lecture and Reception

Saturday, April 4 4:00 p.m.

Non-members: $12.

Members: FREE

Jonathan Clancy to Speak on Pottery of the Arts and Crafts Movement is a post from The Stickley Museum At Craftsman Farms