Plans Finalized For Annual Pottery Convention

It’s an event no art pottery collector should miss.

The American Art Pottery Association is returning to its Ohio roots on April 21-25 for its 30th annual convention, which will include tours, seminars, a Friday night art pottery auction and a weekend art pottery show and sale at the Cleveland South Holiday Inn.

The annual convention will start on Wednesday, April 21 with a tour of the 1915 Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron, followed by the opening reception and banquet that evening, including a presentation by Stephen Harrison, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Curator of Decorative Art & Design.

On Thursday, April 22nd a full-day tour will feature the University Circle area of Cleveland. This urban neighborhood is home to nearly fifty institutions that make it the cultural, educational, and medical center of the region. The tour will feature the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Western Reserve Historical Society, with lunch at the Cleveland Institute of Art, one of the premier art and design colleges in America.

On the agenda for Friday afternoon is an intimate tour of the Cowan Pottery Museum, a unique piece of local history with international importance. Cowan Pottery is a distinctive form of American art pottery produced in from 1913 through 1931 in the Cleveland suburbs of Lakewood and Rocky River. R. Guy Cowan attracted many well-known artists to the studio, and the studio was highly regarded for its modern ceramic sculptures and Art Deco pieces created for its avant-garde clientele.

On Friday evening, the convention will host its famed an art pottery auction, featuring several hundred lots of vintage and contemporary art pottery. The auction will be conducted by Greg Belhorn of Belhorn Auction Services, LLC. The auction preview will begin at 3:30pm, with the first lot going up for sale at 5:30pm.

The country’s greatest two-day pottery show and sale, featuring more than 40 art pottery dealers from throughout the country, will be held at the headquarters hotel on Saturday, April 24th and Sunday, April 25th. The sale will feature American and European art pottery, along with contemporary pottery.

The event opens to convention registered AAPA members for a private viewing and sale on Saturday from 11:00am – noon. The show and sale will be open to the general public from Noon – 5:00pm on Saturday, and from 11:00am – 4:00pm on Sunday. Admission is $6.00 per person for non-convention registered members and the general public.

For additional information and a complete agenda, go to www.aapa.info.