Fired by Ideals: Arequipa Pottery and the Arts & Crafts Movement

by Suzanne Baizerman, John Toki, Lynn Downey, et al.

The Arts and Crafts Movement exerted a profound influence on early-twentieth-century America, not only in the applied and decorative arts but also in the area of social reform. Standing at this intersection of art and reform were American art potteries that taught ceramics skills to working-class women as a means of securing income, restoring health, and/or uplifting the spirit. Like its better known and more successful predecessors -- the Marblehead...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764913999
• ISBN13: 9780764913990
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Pomegranate Communications
• Length: 129 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.6" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

Filled with thoughtful and meaningful wares

Collaboratively presented by Suzanne Raizerman (Imogene Gieling Curator of Crafts and Decorative Arts, Oakland Museum, California), Lynn Downey (History, Levi Strauss and Company); and John Taki (California College of Arts and Crafts and President, Leslie Ceramic Supply Company, Berkeley, California) Fired By Ideals: Arequipa Pottery And The Arts & Crafts Movement is a truly impressive, 136 page artbook showcasing a unique selection of historical ceramic pottery sculpture. In 1911, after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco triggered a tuberculosis epidemic, a special treatment center called the Arequipa Sanatorium was founded for working women afflicted by the disease. Pottery became daily practice, both as an outlet for creativity/healing and to create marketable wares. The most amazing samples of this fine pottery are displayed in full color in Fired By Ideals, along with descriptive captions and a narrated history of the Sanatorium that created them. A fascinating catalogue filled with thoughtful and meaningful wares, Fired By Ideals is a unique and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library arts and crafts reference collections.

With vintage photos and color reproductions

Fired By Design surveys Arequipa pottery and the Arts and Crafts movement, using vintage photos and color reproductions to display the works generated by a tuberculosis sanatarium in rural Marin County in 1906. Dr. Brown was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement sought to provide his female patients not just with rest, but with creative art pursuits: pottery was his choice and Fired By Design displays the wealth produced by his patients.