As an accompaniment to go with the feast it is providing for the eyes, the New York Ceramics and Glass Fair is also offering nourishment for eager brains. Running concurrently with the FIVE-day fair is a series of insightful lectures that are free and open to the public and that cover topics spanning a wide sweep of history and design styles. These fun and informative lectures offer a chance for everyone to soak up the what’s-what about ceramics and glass from renowned authorities in their fields.

Here’s a rundown of the free lectures, all of which take place at the historic Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street:

Wednesday, January 21st, 12 noon

The Wonders of Glass in the Colonial South Suzanne Findlen Hood, Curator of Ceramics and Glass, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. There are precious few pieces of 17th- or 18th-century glass that survive with verified histories of ownership. Period accounts, such as household inventories and advertisements, rarely give detail and more frequently simply list wine glasses, tumblers and generic glassware. This lecture explores these written accounts, as well as some of the archaeological evidence, to show a more complete picture of the types of glassware owned and used in the Colonial South.

2 p.m. The Image of Perfection: Ceramics Figures as a Reflection of 18th- and 19th-Century Society

Leslie B. Grigsby, Senior Curator of Ceramics & Glass, Winterthur. In this talk, Leslie focuses on a selection of popular European subjects that were rendered in figural form and explains why such objects meant so much to their original owners. Inspired by themes dating from antiquity onward, the figures relate to the larger context of 18th- and 19th-century design history and reflect its changes and developments.

4 p.m.   Some Took a Shine to It: Evidence for Silver Lustreware in Late-Federal America Angelika Kuettner, Associate Registrar for Imaging and Assistant Curator of Ceramics, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Lustre decoration was used at least as early as the 11th century by Persian and Syrian potters on fritware and was then incorporated into Italian ceramic technology in the 15th century. The technique was revived in the 18th century by German and French porcelain manufactories. Though archaeological evidence for lustreware in America is slim, documentary evidence reveals that by 1808, American newspapers up and down the Eastern seaboard offered consumers lustreware tea and coffee “sets and pots separate.” This lecture traces the history of silver lustreware and spotlights this often-overlooked material in the United States.

Friday, January 23rd  

11:00 a.m. Ceramics: The Creative Edge

Ronald Bricke, the highly acclaimed interior designer, will discuss how he incorporates ceramics into the residences of his top clientele, while noted design historian Terry Ryan will present a survey of the most celebrated pieces of our time. Judith Gura, design history instructor at the New York School of Interior Design, will moderate the discussion.

12 Noon Duchess, Dogs, Detroit, Dragons, Handles and Cherrypickers: Re-Animating the Transferware Archives of an Industry Paul Scott, Artist, Author and Researcher and Professor at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts Norway. This lecture provides a journey through engraved landscapes, digital harvests, rivets and staples. Using altered antique wares, screenprint, collage, storytelling and remediation, Paul re-animates traditional blue-and-white transferware for the 21st Century. His artwork observes, commemorates and celebrates a rich and complex genre, repurposing it for a contemporary audience. Through this historical narrative, he demonstrates some of the extraordinary paths his transferware patterns have taken—from eBay to celebrated museums, from contemporary art collections to a sculpture park, to architectural installations and other locations around the globe.  

2 p.m. Made in China: New Export-ware from Jingdezhen Leslie Ferrin, Director Ferrin Contemporary. Western artists are increasingly traveling to China to research and produce work for exhibitions in the U.S., Australia and Europe. Eastern artists are using traditional skills to create contemporary art and design to feed a growing demand in Asia and exhibitions in the West. In the last 10 years, thousands of artists have begun a new generation of “export-ware” made in China and sold to the West. In 2014, Ms. Ferrin traveled to Hong Kong, Chongqing, Jingdezhen and Shanghai to explore the growing cultural exchange and visit galleries and museums in the rapidly developing contemporary art scenes of Hong Kong and Shanghai. She also toured studios where the artists she represents work in collaboration with skilled Chinese artisans. In this lecture, Ms. Ferrin elaborates on those singular experiences and shares her unique perspective on contemporary China.

4 p.m. I’m So Fancy: Young Artists Take On Historical Ceramics Garth Johnson, Curator of the Arizona State University Ceramics Research Center and Director-at-Large of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA). A cadre of emerging artists, including Ryan Kelly, Jessica Putnam-Phillips, Jeremy Brooks and others, reference historical works. For these artists, historical ceramics are a wellspring of inspiration, but oftentimes a vessel for subversive content. This lecture illuminates how up-and-coming artists are employing ceramics as the medium for expressing their new ideas.

Saturday, January 24th

12 noon The Most Dangerous Imitations: Fake Chinese Export Porcelain of the 1920s and ’30s Ron Fuchs II, Curator of the Reeves Collections at Washington and Lee University. This talk examines a comparison between Chinese export porcelain made for the American market in the 18th and 19th centuries and reproductions and fakes made in the 1920s and 30s, the period when antique Chinese porcelain became increasingly popular as a collectible.

2 p.m. Transatlantic Trends in Decoration: Surface Treatment on Pots 1880-1915 Jill Fenichell, specialist in antique and contemporary porcelain. As a former dealer, cataloguer, appraiser, author and designer, the lecturer enjoys an authoritative position from which to lead the audience on armchair travels from London to New York and thence to the Midwest to discuss trends in china and pottery decoration during the Belle Époque and thereafter. 

4 p.m.   Collecting American Glass: A Retrospective Jeffrey S. Evans, President and Senior Auctioneer, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Inc. Mt. Crawford, Virginia. This lecture offers a look back at more than 100 years of American glass collecting and collectors, from the pioneering research efforts of Edwin Atlee Barber and Frederic Hunter to legendary collectors such as George McKearin and William J. Elsholz.

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The only fair of its kind in the United States featuring ceramics, pottery and glass from the 17th to 21st centuries, The New York Ceramics and Glass Fair, which takes place on three floors of the Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street (between First and Second Avenues), opens to the public on Wedn­­esday, January 21, and runs through Sunday, January 25. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets for the preview, from 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM are $90 each. General admission, including a catalogue, is $20 per person and can be used throughout the duration of the fair.

Visit www.newyorkceramicsandglassfairfair.com