The Beautiful and Practical: Newcomb College and American Art Pottery exhibition will be on display through January 6, 2013 in the Galleria Cases at the Columbus Museum. This exhibition features more than 80 pieces of glazed and decorated American Art Pottery. Newcomb pottery, metalware, and textiles from the Louisiana State University Museum of Art’s extensive collection are displayed, as well as pieces from other Southern collections by notable art pottery companies, including Cambridge, Fulper, Marblehead, Rookwood, Van Briggle, and Weller. A highlight of the exhibition is the Columbus Museum’s own Newcomb Pottery vase; one of the finest examples of the pottery, it is the work of master decorator Sabina Wells.

American Art Pottery, produced in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, was primarily handmade and was designed and decorated by artists. Although the pieces were functional vessels, it was just as important, if not more so, that they be objects of beauty. Many factors led to the development of the American Art Pottery movement. The inspiration of international exhibitions held in America, the need for jobs for artistic women, the interest in home decorating and amateur china painting, displays in newly founded art museums in major cities, and the establishment of several new art schools were all important elements that spurred and fueled the movement.  Newcomb Pottery was founded in the 1890s at Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans. In business from 1895 to 1940, it was the only such workshop in the South.  Other well-known potteries, such as Rookwood or Fulper, were clustered in Ohio and New England.

As an American art and regional history museum, and the second largest general museum in Georgia, the Columbus Museum offers a diverse collection to the public. The Museum houses over 14,000 artifacts and objects that tell the story of the Chattahoochee River Valley’s development, an American fine art collection from a host of renowned American artists, a hands-on gallery for children, the finest traveling exhibitions from across the U.S., and the historic Bradley Olmsted Garden.

For more information about the Columbus Museum or the Newcomb College and American Art Pottery exhibition and the educational programming associated with the exhibit, please visit www.columbusmuseum.com.