Week 6-Cowan Pottery Museum, Rocky River

R. Guy Cowan, the mentor, provided technical knowledge and artistic direction.

R. Guy Cowan, the employer, provided facilities for other artists to experiment and develop creatively while earning a living.

In 1912, Cowan opened his pottery facility in Lakewood and began producing his "Lakewood Ware."

He taught in area schools, while refining new types of glazes, new colors and clay mixures in his studio.

In 1920, a new plant was built on Lake Rd. in Rocky River. Cowan had 9 kilns, emplyed 50 master potters and artists and his studio became a popular tourist attraction.

One of Cowan's artists was Victor Schreckengost, designer of the famous "Jazz Bowl." Eleanor Roosevelt ordered one of these bowls for the White House.

Commercial production was distributed nationally to department stores: Wanamaker's (Philadelphia), Marshall Field (Chicago), Ovington (NY)
,Halle's, Sterling & Welch and Webb C. Ball (Cleveland).

By 1925 there were at least 1200 retail outlets for Cowan Pottery. Costs ranged from 50 cents to 40 dollars. Limited editions for department store displays were priced as high as 500 dollars.

Cowan Pottery became a casualty of the Depression. In 1931 its doors were closed and the collection was liquidated.

I love the shape of these vases. This center one is decorated with fish and waves, and has a light blue pearly glaze.

Cowan Pottery has won many awards, and has been displayed at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

In 1976, The Rocky River Public Library purchased an 800 piece collection of Cowan Pottery using a donation of memorial funds.

Two years later, the Cowan Pottery Museum opened in the library, following its commitment to be an "informational, educational, recreational and cultural resource."

Thanks to Catherine who, with her husband, have taken a personal interest in this collection and recommended this museum to me.

And what is art and history if it isn't personal? While doing research about Cowan Pottery, ("Pottery, Modern Wares 1920-1960" Leslie Pina) I found a chapter about Russel Wright Modern Ware made in Stuebenville.

I rushed to the back of a kitchen cupboard and found these three pieces I chose from Aunty's dishes after she died.

They aren't rare: 80 million pieces were made from 1939-1959. But there are some good stories about a near riot in Gimbel's, as women rushed the store to purchase these dishes.

Like I tell my students, if you have 2 or more, you have a collection. I think I have a collection. Thank you, Aunty.

Here are some links if you want to learn about Cowan Pottery or Russell Wright Modern Ware.

http://http//www.bauerpottery.com/russelwright.php

http://http//www.cowanpottery.org/aboutcowan.htm

Next week I'm headed to Fremont, Ohio. C'mon along for some Ohio history.

Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art-Las Vegas

When you think of Las Vegas museums, I bet you expected The liberace Museum or the Neon Museum.

But I found "Figuratively Speaking" at the Bellagio Gallery. Well, really Amy suggested it, and it was well worth leaving the sun and pool to see paintings, photographs, sculptures and video by traditional and contemporary artists, from the 1800's to present day.

"The Sweeper"
Pierre Renoir 1889

"Celia in a Black Slip"

David Hockney 1973

"Paul IV"

Chuck Close 2001

This was one of my favorites.

The painting is made up of these small shapes, used in a grid-like pattern.

"Woman with Beret"

Pablo Picasso, 1938

A sculpture that really fascinated Amy and I was a form of a person, covered in crocheted granny squares, with jack-in-the-boxes sticking out all over it. (I know that sounds a bit bizzare) I can't remember the name of the piece or the artist, but will keep working on trying to find it. You can see it in the top box of this Bellagio video link.

http://www.bellagio.com/amenities/gallery-of-fine-art.aspx

Week 4- Dunham Tavern & Museum, Cleveland

Dunham Tavern was a stagecoach stop on a Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit post road. It is the oldest building still standing on its original site in Cleveland.

Rufus and Jane Dunham arrived in the Western Reserve in 1819, acquired 14 acres here and lived in a log cabin.

Taking advantage of their land's position on a well-travelled stagecoach route, they built the tavern and home in 1824.

The stagecoach dropped off women and children at this front door. leading to a sitting room.

Men went in this door, which led into the Tap Room. On the first floor there is also a Keeping Room with a large fireplace and a kitchen. Upstairs are several bedrooms. The museum contains furnishings from the period, though not original to the building.

Dunham Tavern was also used for parties, turkey shoots and political meetings.

There were a total of four buildings on the site. This is the original smokehouse-small-about 4 feet by 4 feet.

Another original building, surrounded by colorful gardens.

The story of the Tavern's preservation is just as interesting and relevant. It was sold to a banker in 1857 and used as a home for the next 70 years.

In the 1930's, the building was used as studio space for WPA artists and designers. Donald Gray, a landscape architect, had offices in the Tap Room. He became interested in the history of the site, organized a Society of Collectors, and eventually took responsibility for the building and grounds, opening it to the public in 1941.

Euclid Avenue today

The Dunham Tavern and Museum sit on this same site. It has seen a stage coach route, Millionaire's Row, car dealerships and urban renewal.

As I've been looking for museums to visit for this summer project, I've been surprised at the number of historical sites, museums and homesteads that have been preserved in so many suburbs of greater Cleveland. Places like Dunham Tavern, sitting in the middle of 21st century busy-ness, reminding us of who came before us, if we just take the time to look, and see, and listen.

Next week-Las Vegas

Week 3- James Garfield Memorial at Lakeview Cemetery & his home, Lawnfield, Mentor

Have you ever wanted to go back in time, to feel like you are living in a house, and climbing the stairs and sitting on a chair and watching the people at the dinner table?

Well, that's exactly what it felt like at Lawnfield, President James Garfield's home in Mentor. the park ranger that led our tour was so enthusiastic and informative about the Garfield family and home, it seemed as though we got to know the President, his wife Lucretia, and their five children. We could picture them reading a book, running through the wide hallways
or greeting voters out on the sweeping front porch at the first ever "Front Porch Campaign."

Hundreds of people would take the train to Mentor, get off at the train depot that was built right at the edge of Garfield's farm, and walk a path through his farm fields to listen to his eloquent speeches. Candidates at this time thought it wasn't "presidential" to go to the people to campaign, so they came to him.

One of the things I love about this project is that it makes me want to learn so much more about this president who was assassinated and served less than a year in office. He was successful at a variety of occupations: college president, farmer, congressman, general.

Sometimes we Ohioans take for granted our state's title of "Mother of Presidents." President Garfield is an example of why we shouldn't. He had the potential to be a great president. It's
our loss that he wasn't given the chance

Some important numbers about President Garfield:

200- Number of days in office

80- Number of days he lingered after a gun shot wound by a disgruntled seeker of a diplomatic post. Medical experts believe he could have survived the injury had he had better care, even at that time.

5-Number of children he had. James served as Secretary of the Interior under T. Roosevelt. Abram attended M.I.T. and became an accomplished architect. Harry served as president of Williams College. Molly was the only daughter that survived childhood.

185-The number of acres of the original farm. Now just 8 acres, it was given to the Western

Reserve Historical Society in 1936 by the Garfield family. Over 80 percent of the furnishings are original.

350,00-The amount of money that was raised in a trust for Mrs. Garfield to use after her husband's death (would be over 5 million dollars in today's currency) There had been no provision made for Mary Todd Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination, so businessman Cyrus Field took it upon himself to help raise money for Lucretia.

29-Rooms in Lawnfield. Above is the Presidential library that Mrs. Garfield had built after her husband's death. It contains all of his papers and some of his extensive book collection. The rest are in many book shelves around the house. This is one of the things that made this visit so meaningful and authentic for me; to be able to see the books that were read, in the chair that he sat in, in the room that he used. It was an amazing way to bring history alive!

A solemn way to end my President Garfield visit was to his tomb and memorial at Lake view Cemetery.

Here's the tower that rises above the trees.

The front entrance. Isn't it majestic?

The view from the observation deck at the top of the monument. What an amazingly clear day to see downtown.

The statue of Garfield inside the monument. On the floor beneath, he and his wife are entombed in a crypt, and the ashes of Molly and her husband are kept there also. It was kind of spooky down there.

This summer project of visiting a museum-a-week is so fun! Can't wait to see where it takes me next week. Katy, Nate, boys and dogs are all here. I'll see if I can find something that would interest them.