Art

At the height of America's Arts and Crafts movement, Detroit neighbors Horace J. Caulkins and Mary Chase Perry pooled their talents together to found Pewabic Pottery.

With modest beginnings in 1903, Pewabic transformed from a rented stable in Brush Park to an English Tudor building on East Jefferson Avenue, where it has operated since 1907. Today, the iconic enterprise continues Perry's dedication to handcrafted ceramics and remains known for its iridescent glaze on everything from vessels and architectural tiles to ecclesiastical installations in churches across the country, including the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Author Cara Catallo illuminates the story behind one of the oldest American handcrafted pottery traditions.

Founded in 1881, the Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Public art museums were still rare, especially as far west as Cincinnati. But the city had emerged as a thriving cultural center and calls for an art museum grew, led by the passionate and determined members of the Women's Art Museum Association. Thanks largely to their efforts, a public subscription attracted the contributions required for construction to begin. Eden Park, which overlooked downtown Cincinnati and the Ohio River valley, was chosen as the site for the museum. When it finally opened in May 1886, the museum was described as a gift of the people for the people, acknowledging the crucial role Cincinnatians had played in its establishment. The original building now has eight additional wings; the collection boasts 66,000 works of art, which span 6,000 years of human history; and the museum has inspired and educated generations.

Authors Deb Schillo and Barbara Miller take the reader through the fascinating history of the Southern Highland Craft Guild through a series of charming images and narratives of the craftspeople and artists throughout the 20th and into the 21st century that have made the Guild the world-renown cultural staple that it is today.

The Southern Highland Craft Guild is the oldest craft guild in the United States and the only guild to be defined by a geographical area. First conceived by Olive Dame Campbell in the 1920s, the craft guild was launched in 1930 with an exhibition of regional arts. Frances Louisa Goodrich contributed her Allanstand Shop so that families living in an already depressed region would have a sales venue for their work throughout the Great Depression and the years of World War II. From that early start, the Southern Highland Craft Guild has grown to nearly a thousand members and has established a worldwide reputation for fine workmanship. The guild is governed by the artist membership, which is made up of a wide range of craftspeople from institute-trained artists to local makers trained by parents and friends. Deb Schillo served as the guild's librarian and archivist for 20 years. Barbara Miller juried into the guild in 1965 and is still an active member, having served on the board and numerous committees. The authors have selected a sampling of the thousands of photographs and materials from the archives of the Southern Highland Craft Guild to provide a glimpse at some of the people and places that contributed to where the guild is today.