A Special Collaborative Auction and Studying the Saturday Evening Girls
by Kate Nixon
Painting by Jan Schmuckal
Auction Watch: Arts & Craftsmen Guild Auction Now Accepting Bids!
A special auction has just opened featuring works from the artists of the Arts & Craftsmen Guild — and you are invited to bid on one-of-a-kind artwork, jewelry, lighting, sculptures, and more.
The Roycroft Campus announced a special auction in partnership with the Arts & Craftsmen Guild, which will include 15 rare works of art created by the Guild’s artists. The Guild has generously donated these unique pieces, most of which are art collaborations, to be auctioned and raise much-needed funds for the Campus’ restoration and programs. The fundraising auction is open until March 4th, 2021. The artists and craftspeople partnerships involved in the auction include: Jan Schmuckal and Jim Cordes, Marie Gniazdowski and Kim O’Sullivan and Bev Fehringer, Suzanne O’Brien and Lisa Ballowe, Yvonne Stoklosa and Stacy Smith, Barbara Strzepka and Norberg’s Art and Frames, Vicki Schneider and Ray Deibel, Jack Theisen and Jason Baker, Karen Carlton, Richard Glover and Bradley Widman.
“We are extremely grateful to the talented artists in the Arts & Craftsmen Guild, who have shared their wonderful artwork with us for this auction,” expressed Curt Maranto, Executive Director of the Roycroft Campus. “Since its inception, the Guild has sought to support the Campus in many ways, and we are excited to announce this exciting new opportunity for the community to see the Guild members’ work and provide much-needed funding to the Campus.”
“Then Sings My Soul” framed print, painting by Jan Schmuckal and frame by Jim Cordes. Photo courtesy of the Roycroft Campus Corporation.
The Arts & Craftsmen Guild seeks to promote and preserve the Roycroft Campus and the Arts & Crafts Movement through its mission to inspire a positive collaboration amongst the craftsmen and the community. Yvonne Stoklosa, Chair of the Arts & Craftsmen Guild, shared that the artists are “thrilled to be able to support the historic Roycroft Campus in a creative endeavor. To challenge ourselves, we collaborated with other artists within the Guild to create special, heirloom pieces we hope will generate funds.”
To view and bid on auction items visit the Campus’ website at: https://www.roycroftcampuscorporation.com/product-category/auction/. Items may also be viewed in person at the Copper Shop Gallery during normal business hours.
“Making Pots and Useful Citizens”: A Study of the Saturday Evening Girls
The Restorative Power of Craft
Session 3: “Making Pots and Useful Citizens: The Saturday Evening Girls”
Saturday, December 5th, 2020 1PM EST via Zoom
Register here: https://www.stickleymuseum.org/learn/programs-for-adults/the-restorative-power-of-craft/
“The Restorative Power of Craft”, the continuing course offered by The Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms, will focus this Saturday’s efforts on The Saturday Evening Girls as an example of skill building and financial empowerment for young immigrant women. As the official description for the class shows, the early pottery group instilled a sense of belonging in their new country:
“Founded in 1908 under the patronage of Helen Osborne Storrow and guided by the visions of Edith Guerrier and Edith Brown, the Paul Revere Pottery in Boston sought to provide immigrant girls a means of making a living in their new country. Using craft as a means to provide the immigrant population with wage-earning opportunities while instilling in them the Colonial history of America, the Paul Revere Pottery straddled progressive-era idealism and conservative fears that have defined the American experience in the modern era.”
The class has also studied the pottery firms Marblehead, Van Briggle, and Arequipa as examples of craft providing stability during times of instability, a theme very timely in today’s world:
“It seems fitting that as we end what can be objectively described as a difficult year–with a contentious political season culminating in an election, a worldwide pandemic that has upended our ideas of normalcy, and more prolonged and shared suffering than any period in recent memory–that we focus on the Restorative Power of Craft. Shared throughout the early 20th century, there was a belief that craft, the very act of making, could serve (As Eloise Roorbach noted in The Craftsman) as a “tonic” for the most fragile among us, bringing the craftsperson renewed health, financial security, and spiritual solace.”
Registration is required for the class and all registrants will receive an email prior to each session with a link to join via Zoom. Additionally, all paid attendees will be emailed a private link to the session recording when it is available. Interested registrants may also register retroactively for a recording of a past session – these registrants will receive an email link once the video is ready.
Register here: https://www.stickleymuseum.org/learn/programs-for-adults/the-restorative-power-of-craft/