Auction highlights April 22-26 art pottery convention
Overbeck 9-inch Pine Cone vase by Hannah & Elizabeth Overbeck. Estimate $14,000-$18,000. Image courtesy Belhorn Auction Services.
PHILADELPHIA – By popular demand, the American Art Pottery Association’s annual convention will return to Philadelphia on April 22-26, 2009. The event’s success last year prompted a repeat visit, and this year’s 29th annual gathering will include entirely new tours, seminars, and educational exhibits – many of which highlight the Arts & Crafts movement and its pottery – as well as an outstanding art pottery auction produced by Belhorn Auction Services of Columbus, Ohio.
The convention will again be headquartered at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel in Langhorne, Pa., located near I-95 and Route 1. Spotlight events include a two-day pottery show and sale, an author’s book-signing opportunity, and the auction, which features several hundred lots of vintage and contemporary art pottery. The auction will be held Friday, April 24 at 5 p.m. EST, at the Radisson Hotel Philadelphia Northeast, located at 2400 Old Lincoln Highway, Trevose, Pa. Real-time Internet bidding will be available from anywhere in the world through www.LiveAuctioneers.com. The auction preview, reception, and book-signing event will begin at 3:30 p.m.
The annual reception and banquet held on the evening of April 22 will include a keynote address 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?
The three seminars feature an impressive roster of speakers, including tile expert, author, Craftsman Auctions partner and Antiques Roadshow appraiser Suzanne Perrault. Ms. Perrault will lead a seminar on collecting, discussing why it doesn’t have to be “big, expensive, or a superstar” to be worthy of collecting, since 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.
Jonathan Clancy, Ph.D., lecturer in American Fine & Decorative Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and co‐author with Dr. Eidelberg of Beauty in Common Things, American Arts and Crafts Pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation, will give an overview of the foundation’s collection, its significant pieces, and research discoveries.
The pottery show and sale, featuring 50 pottery dealers from throughout America, will be held at the headquarters hotel on Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26. The sale will feature American and European art pottery, along with contemporary pottery. The special exhibit accompanying the show will be American Arts & Crafts pottery from the Two Red Roses Foundation collection. The event opens to convention registered members for a private viewing and sale on Saturday from 11 a.m. till 12 noon. The show and sale will be open to the general public from noon to 5 p.m. on the Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Sunday. Admission is $6 per person for non-convention-registered association members and the general public.
Activities scheduled as part of the show include hourly prizes and “booth chats” on both days, plus a pottery I.D. table on Sunday.
The 2009 convention will feature two tours. The Wednesday, April 22 event will be a special behind-the-scenes tour of Craftsman Farms, where the 1911 New Jersey home of turn‐of‐the 20th century designer Gustav Stickley -a National Historic Landmark – now serves as a museum dedicated to the American Arts & Crafts movement.
The Thursday, April 23 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, which is currently hosting special exhibits on Cézanne, Matisse, and 20th-century Japanese crafts; or to walk to nearby Fairmount Park, which features such landmarks 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 www.AAPA.info.
View the fully illustrated auction catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place at LiveAuctioneers.com. Questions regarding any lot in the auction may be directed to Greg Belhorn by calling 614-921-9441 or e-mailing auctions@belhorn.com
Click here to view Belhorn Auction Services’ complete catalog.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Grueby 8½-inch-high by 10-inch-wide Arts & Crafts bulbous vase by Ruth Erickson, in rich matte green with yellow buds and long. Estimate $9,000-$12,000. Image courtesy Belhorn Auction Services.
Vase with butterflies, 14 inches, collaborative effort by Chris Powell of Chris Powell Pottery and Scott Draves of Door Pottery. Estimate $500-$700. Image courtesy Belhorn Auction Services.
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