Pottery Lovers Venture to Zanesville, Ohio for Unique Pottery Show

Pottery Lovers Venture to Zanesville, Ohio for Unique Pottery Show

by Kate Nixon

The largest and oldest gathering of pottery dealers and collectors reunites starting Wednesday, July 13th in Zanesville, Ohio, a city recognized as the pottery capital of the world. In the early 20th century, Zanesville was home to a number of art pottery firms due to its abundant clay deposits and local rivers; the firms of Zanesville Pottery, American Clay Products Company, Ohio Art Pottery and Weller Pottery made their home in Zanesville. With McCoy, Roseville and the iconic Rookwood pottery firms nearby, Ohio established itself not only as the pottery capital of the world, but a key state at the center of a movement, hailing the creation of art on natural clay canvasses that customers could easily collect and admire in their own home.

The appreciation of art pottery and its legacy in Ohio returns this week to Zanesville in the form of the annual Pottery Lovers show, a show running from July 13th through the 16th at the Zanesville Holiday Inn Express. The shows are comprised of individual hotel rooms set up as dealer booths, filled with art pottery and ceramic works – both antique and contemporary – available to customers from morning until evening. The rooms are available to shop each day through Saturday at 4:00 PM when the shows will close.

The popularity of the Pottery Lovers Show is in part due to this original idea, a process that encourages buyers and dealers to interact and learn about art pottery in each room. Patti Bourgeois of Pats Pots says of the annual show, “It is a highlight of the year for us because we love sharing stories, learning from the masters, making friends and leaving with a treasure.”

Additional events at the Pottery Lovers show include a silent auction available by the hospitality desk, a pizza party Wednesday, July 13th at 5:00 PM, an evening “Show and Tell” session on Thursday, July 14th with the theme of “Beaches”, and a happy hour at the Zanesville Museum of Art on Friday evening from 5:00 – 7:00 PM.

The in-person hospitality desk will be open all week, staffed with volunteers. The banquet tickets can be purchased at the desk and the silent auction items can be viewed and bid on by the desk as well.

An assortment of ceramic works available from Barbara Gerr Antiques, one of the many dealers to shop from during the Pottery Lovers Show. The show starts today and runs through Saturday, July 16th at 4 PM.

For any updated information, please visit the Pottery Lovers website here: https://potterylovers.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PotteryLovers/

If you want to keep learning about pottery this summer on the go, consider Arts & Crafts In August as a way to connect with collectors from all over the country online. You can participate in both live sessions and demonstrations via Zoom or you can access the recordings of the sessions via our Video On Demand page. While live sessions are available throughout the entire first week of August, Wednesday August 3rd is specifically themed “Ceramic Stories: Then and Now.” Here are a number of Zoom sessions available to registered attendees:

• “Collecting the Women of American Art Pottery: The Iconic and the Unsung” with Riley Humler – August 2nd at 5:00 PM EST
• “The Legacy of Luster: Exploring Luster Glaze in Art Pottery” with Paul Katrich – August 3rd at 1:00 PM EST
• “Angels & Dragonflies and Legacy In the Attic: Stories of Growing Up with Fulper Pottery” with Anne Fulper, granddaughter of the Fulper Pottery founder – August 3rd at 3:00 PM EST
• Seminar from the Archives: “The Two Robineaus: Partners in Porcelain” by Dr. Martin Eidelberg

This is just a sampling of the sessions available from August 1st to August 7th. Click here to see the full schedule of Arts & Crafts In August.