PRESS RELEASE
posted 2/08
by permission of Arnie Small, President AAPA

American Art Pottery Association to Meet in Philadelphia Metro Area

The American Art Pottery Association will hold its annual convention in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Lambertville, New Jersey metropolitan area on April 23 - 27, 2008. This is the first time that the national convention will be held in this metropolitan area, and the rich ceramic and art heritage holds the promise of a memorable gathering. The convention will be headquartered at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, located near 1-95 and Route 1.

The seminars will be presented by an impressive roster of speakers. Ulysses Dietz, Senior Curator of Decorative Arts at The Newark Museum, will speak on American and European art pottery, from its late 19th century Aesthetic Movement roots through its burgeoning popularity during the early 20th century. Vance Koehler, curator of the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works, will share his insights on the life and accomplishments of Henry Mercer. Arlie Sulka, Managing Director of Lillian Nassau LLC and veteran Antiques Roadshow appraiser, will speak on Louis Comfort Tiffany. There will also be a special presentation by Craftsman Farms, where the 1911 New Jersey home of turn-of-the-20th century designer Gustav Stickley, now a National Historic Landmark, has become a museum dedicated to the American Arts and Crafts movement.

At the annual banquet on the evening of April 23rd, the keynote presentation will be given by David Rago, American and European 20th Century decorative arts and furnishings specialist, who is also founder of the Rago Arts and Auction Center, an Antiques Roadshow appraiser, and publisher of Style 1900 magazine.

The convention will also include an art pottery auction, two-day pottery show and sale, and author's book signing event. The auction, featuring several hundred lots of vintage and contemporary art pottery, will be held at the Rago Arts and Auction Center in Lambertville, New Jersey on Friday, April 25th at 5:30 PM and will be conducted by Greg Belhorn of Belhorn Auction Services, LLC. The auction preview and book signing event will begin at 4:00 PM.

The country's greatest two-day pottery show and sale, featuring dozens of pottery dealers from throughout America, will be held at the headquarters hotel on Saturday, April 26th and Sunday, April 27th. The sale will feature American and European art pottery, along with contemporary pottery. The event opens to convention registered members for a private viewing and sale on Saturday from 11:00 AM - 12 Noon. The show and sale will be open to the general public from Noon - 5:00 PM Saturday, and from 11:00 AM - 4:00 PM Sunday. Admission is $6.00 per person for non-convention registered members and the general public. Activities scheduled as part of the show include hourly prizes and "Booth Chats" on both days, plus a pottery ID table on Sunday.

The 2008 convention will feature two tours. The Wednesday April 23rd event will be a strolling tour of Philadelphia's quintessential sites such as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, Franklin Court, and Elfreth's Alley, along with spectacular art. A tour highlight will be the world's largest Tiffany Studios mural, located in the former Curtis Publishing Company Building. Based on Maxfield Parrish's painting The Dream Garden, this 1915 mosaic measures 15 by 49 feet and contains 100,000 glass pieces in 260 colors. Lunch will be at the historic Reading Terminal, an 1893 train station that now houses the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

The Thursday April 24th bus tour will focus on the accomplishments of Henry Chapman Mercer at three National Historic Landmark structures collectively known as the "Mercer Mile". An archaeologist, ceramist, scholar, and antiquarian, Mercer's singular vision has created a remarkable legacy. The morning will feature tours of Fonthill and the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. Mercer built Fonthill between 1908 and 1912 as his home. The building is an eclectic mix of Medieval, Gothic, and Byzantine architectural styles, and is significant for its early use of poured reinforced concrete. The castle boasts 44 rooms, 18 fireplaces, and more than 200 windows of varying sizes and shapes. The interior walls, floors and ceilings are elaborately adorned with an incredible array of Mercer's own handcrafted Moravian tiles, as well as tiles from around the world that he had collected. Nearby, the 1912 Moravian Pottery and Tile Works building is maintained as a working history museum. Handmade tiles are still produced in a manner similar to that developed by Mercer, the pottery's founder and builder, who directed work at the pottery from its inception in 1898 until his death in 1930.

After lunch on the grounds of the pottery, the tour will continue in the center of Doylestown, where attendees can choose to visit the Mercer Museum, the James Michener Art Museum, or stroll and visit galleries and shops. The Mercer Museum is a testament to its founder's recognition of the need to preserve the outmoded material of daily life in American before it was swept away by the Industrial Revolution. Mercer gathered tens of thousands of items from the mid-19th century and earlier, built a six-story concrete castle in 1913 - 1916 to share the collection with the public, and arranged the artifacts in a thematic classification system of his own devising. Henry Ford called it the only museum in America worth visiting. The Michener Art Museum, founded in 1988 in the former 1884 Bucks County jail, is home to an outstanding collection of works by Pennsylvania Impressionists and showcases important artists of the Bucks County region.

Various convention attendance packages and day rates are available. All events are open to the public. For more information, visit www.aapa.info.

For more information contact:
Arnie Small, President
American Art Pottery Association
Phone: 609-407-9997



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