Please allow me to vent on a topic of, perhaps, marginal importance that, at least, touches upon two of the three topics in my heading. A casual viewer of what passes for news in our millennial now might want to look past the political figures' close up to ponder the background and apparent room decor of the interview's scene. Depth of field is, of course, variable and sometimes, where I am directing your gaze, our destination can be focused or blurred. This should not be an impediment. With apologies to the politicos' "Blah, blah, blah", scan the shelves of blurry display cases and gaze upon tabletops. We could be in the White House or somewhere on Capitol Hill. Yes...do you see? On that fuzzy table back there to the left of Laura Bush in that curio cabinet behind Nancy Pelosi a baleful chunk, or several, of Asian and European pottery.
Now I do not mean to disparage these beautiful and often quite valuable examples of artistic expression. It is simply that, in this glorious land and mainly in the years of reconstruction following the Civil War, an American form of decorative art pottery was born though the efforts of women and men bent on celebrating artistic individuality through the new means of mass production. From Massachusetts and the Saturday Evening Girls Club to California and the Arequipa Pottery a craze became a movement.
Today, examples of American Art Pottery are highly sought. Check out Rookwood, Grueby, Teco or Weller on Ebay and even in today's depressed market I'm betting you will still be impressed by some of the prices.
On our public tables and inside our public curio cabinets within the public rooms of our Capitol and White House shouldn't we see examples of our native art forms?

- posted by Sean @ 9:50 PM