Pond Farm Pottery / California Bauhaus
I recently went on a trip to visit Pond Farm in Guerneville, California. The idyllic site is located near the Russian River on a hilltop above the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. Pond Farm began in 1939 when writer Jane Herr and her husband, architect Gordon, purchased the 400 acre property with dreams of starting an artists’ colony. The site included a large pond (top of photo), hence the name. The San Francisco couple were inspired by Cranbrook Academy of Art, Black Mountain College, and Bauhaus - which the aforementioned had direct links to. Photo: The Press Democrat Sun, Jun 12, 1949 Gordon Herr traveled to Europe in 1938 to search out like-minded artists. This is when he met Marguerite Wildenhain. She was born in Lyon, France, to a British mother and German Jewish father. She was one of the first students of the Bauhaus and studied in Dornburg from 1919 to 1925. Source: Marguerite at Dornburg, 1925. Photo courtesy of Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin via M...
