Dish Camp
June 21st - 22nd 2024
This year we’ll explore historic ceramics from Asia to America that shaped and inspired those who made and bought them. This two-day workshop will include lectures on Chinese influences on English ceramics, utilitarian oyster jars, figural pottery of Ohio, eighteenth and nineteenth century English and Asian Ceramics, and hands-on demonstrations guided by a master potter.
Includes lunch both days and a hearthside dinner Saturday prepared by Becky Hendricks.
The Program
Fins, Feathers, Fur, and Faces: The Figural Pottery of Ohio
Hollie Davis & Andrew Richmond
From the middle of the 19th century through the early 20th century, potters throughout Ohio produced a seemingly endless variety of figural pottery. From England, they imported Rockingham designs and animalistic majolica forms and from the American South, face jugs. And then there are the dogs ...so many dogs. We’ll take a tour of Ohio’s figural pottery and perhaps, answer the age-old question: why so many dogs?
Keystone Collections: Curating Pennsylvania’s Ceramic Past
Paul Nasca
With 11.5 million archaeological artifacts, the State Museum of Pennsylvania curates a rich record of ceramics that were produced, imported, and used in the Commonwealth. This presentation delves into these collections to highlight outstanding vessels and the near limitless potential for research, study, and multi-disciplinary collaboration.
Chinese Landscapes on English Pottery
Ron Fuchs
Chinese landscapes are among the most common designs found on English pottery. This talk will explore how these designs reflect not only the traditional Chinese landscape with a river or stream meandering through hills, but more specifically how they represent a real place, Jiangnan, the region south of the Yangtze River.
Origins and Evolution of the Oyster Jar: 1760 – 1840
Chris Pickrell
The development and migration of the stoneware oyster jar form from Manhattan to the Mid-Atlantic region and New England comes from a unique combination of a thriving ceramic industry and an abundance of oysters suitable for export. This discussion will include what the jars were used for and how they likely originated in New York.
Well Assorted Wares: Four Hundred Years of Ceramics in the NYC Archaeological Repository
Meta Janowitz & Jessica MacLean
From a colonial outpost to the unification of the five boroughs in 1898, the archaeological record of New York City bears witness to the changing nature of the city. This talk will highlight 400 years of ceramic history in the city drawing from the collections of the New York City Archaeological Repository.
A Tale of Twelve Teapots: Ceramics Teawares in Philadelphia
Dennis Pickeral
A remarkable archaeological assemblage excavated at Stenton in Philadelphia is providing new clues about the role of ceramics in a household where gentility, politeness, and sociability dictated behavior and lifestyle. Archaeology has become a primary source of evidence at the site, more extensive and complete than anything available in the documentary record.
Other Activities
Scott Penpraze
Eastfield’s Proprietor will lead a tour of Don Carpentier’s Pottery Shop to explore the tools and equipment used in ceramic production including the engine lathe Don built based on Wedgwood’s 1768 lathe.
Mark Shapiro
Potter Mark Shapiro will lead us on a hands-on discovery of carving clay bodies in the style of Nottingham stoneware potter James Morley in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.