Collection Highlights

Peter Shire Teapots
“I am a maker of things, a hand-skills guy, so ceramics was my romantic vision. I wanted to be a potter wearing funky sandals and an apron.”[i] – Peter Shire While this early fantasy of being a “humble potter” might not have come true, the

Mangiafico & Pinto Sculpture
Artists Michael Mangiafico and Edward Pinto collaborated on this spectacular sculpture, Honey Pot Tea Set, bringing to bear their respective talents in glass and wood. Mangiafico is a glass artist and teacher working in Pittsburgh PA. He is known for his torchworked sculpted insects, such as

Margaret Wharton Sculpture
“My work describes the nature of what I know about humanness. It incorporates both destruction and construction. It begins with a mental notion and evolves through physical discovery. The result is a form I could have never imagined.”[i] -Margaret Wharton American artist Margaret Wharton (1943-2014)

Kevin O’Dwyer Interview
The artist Kevin O’Dwyer (American/Irish, b. 1953) has received international recognition for his work which ranges from holloware and jewelry to photography and large-scale outdoor sculpture. These creations reflect not only his keen interest in modern architecture, but also a fascination with antiquity. For over

Mary Engel Sculpture
The sculptor Mary Engel (American, b.1963) is known for her whimsical animal forms that she covers with found objects such as watches, beads, buttons, and bullets. While many of these works have focused on dogs, she has expanded her repertoire over the past thirty years

Walter Gropius TAC Teapot
Adolph Georg Walter Gropius (German, 1883-1969) was an innovative architect, an influential educator, and the founder of the revolutionary art school known as the Bauhaus. The Bauhaus would ultimately “reshape our world” and he was its “impresario.”[i] The school sought to reform educational theory and

Sarah Perry Sculpture
Sarah Perry (American, b. 1956) is known for her ingenious animal-inspired sculptures that rely heavily on an array of found objects. She scavenges for materials, such as discarded truck tires or sun-bleached bones, and then skillfully transforms them into works of art that “communicate [her]

John McQueen
“Baskets. Even the word seems humble, self-effacing, and traditional…No one expects a concert of contemporary music to sound like Bach, or a contemporary painting to look like a Leonardo. Strange, then, that many expect contemporary baskets to be just like baskets of another century.”[i] John

Linda McCartney Teapot Photograph
“I was a bit shy and introverted but looking out through the lens…I forgot myself and I could actually see life. This enthusiasm came out of me, and it did, photography changed my life…”[i] -Linda McCartney Linda McCartney (American, 1941-1998) began taking photographs in the 1960s

Ruth Bernhard Photograph
“For a photographer, light is the real teacher. But it is more than that. Light is the reason for my photographing at all. It is a language that speaks to me. It reveals its subject and becomes an experience that matches my feelings. In that

Modernism: Puiforcat and Lobel
“Modernism was not conceived as a style but a loose collection of ideas. It [is] a term that [covers] a range of movements in art, architecture, design, and literature, which largely rejected the styles that came before it.”[i] Between the World Wars “[this] methodology flourished

Still Life Painting
A still life is a work of art that features an arrangement of inanimate objects either natural or man-made.[i] While people have depicted their food, foliage, and vessels since antiquity, the art form did not fully begin its development into an independent genre until the