Connecticut Ceramics Study Circle Lecture @ The Bruce Museum

Image: William Littler (British, 1724-1784) Sweetmeats Stand, created: 1765-1770, earthenware, lead glaze. West Pans, East Lothian, Scotland. Gift of the Mint Museum Auxiliary. 1971.3.16. Collection of The Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina

“Reinstallation of Ceramic Treasures at the Mint”, an illustrated lecture by Brian Gallagher, Curator of Decorative Arts, Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina.

Brian Gallagher, curator of Decorative Arts at the Mint, will present highlights of the Mint Musem’s collection of 18th century British pottery and porcelain, focusing especially on works that are exceptional because of their rarity, craftsmanship, provenance, or as representative examples of particular types or methods of production or decoration.  Much of the research and observations he will share derives from his work on two recent projects: in fall 2015, the Mint, together with D. Giles Limited of London, published over 225 highlights of the collection in British Ceramics 1675–1825: The Mint Museum, and in 2016, the museum opened a new installation of the collection titled Portals to the Past: British Ceramics 1675–1825. Brian will briefly discuss this installation and some of the themes he developed to help visitors more fully engage with the objects.
The Mint Museum’s collection numbers over 2,000 objects and includes important examples of both salt-glazed and dry-bodied stoneware from Staffordshire; tin-glazed earthenware from Bristol, Liverpool, and London; and cream-colored earthenware from Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and Yorkshire. Notable eighteenth-century porcelain factories represented include Chelsea, Bow, and Vauxhall in London, Longton Hall in Staffordshire, Worcester, Bristol, and others.
Brian Gallagher joined The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, as Curator of Decorative Arts in July 2007.  Before joining the Mint staff, Brian was an assistant curator in the European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Department at the Detroit Institute of Arts. He has an M.A. and  an M.Phil. from the Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, New York. Prior to his museum career, Brian was a research librarian for fourteen years, working in turn for IBM, Salomon Brothers, and J.P. Morgan and Company.
Admission for non-members of the Connecticut Ceramics Study Circle is $25.  Refreshments immediately following the lecture.  For additional information visit www.ctcsc.org.