Architectural Pottery / AMOCA Talk
This past weekend AMOCA hosted a Panel discussion as part of the Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape exhibition.
It was a packed house. Someone from the museum said it was the most people they've had for an event like this.
The first panel included three people who were personally connected to the Architectural Pottery.
Jo Lauria on the far left curated the exhibition and moderated the talk. To her right is Lee Whitten, then Marilyn Kay Austin in the middle and Damon Lawrence is on the right.
Lee Whitten earned a master's degree in 1964 at UCLA under Laura Andreson and Bernie Kester. His first job in ceramics was at Architectural Pottery working under David Cressey. He was recommended to David by Andreson. This photo is a planter Cressey let Lee buy for $1.50, his hourly wage at the time. Lee said he liked the process of pushing the clay out from the interior of the form. Earth Cells were another favorite of his.
Although he was only at the company for about a year, he seemed to have a fondness for his time there. I don't think anyone was even aware that he worked there until after he showed up to the exhibition opening. Lee, from the perspective of a skilled ceramicist added so much to the conversation. He detailed what set Cressey's Pro Artisan line apart from other ceramics being produced at the time. He described the unique oxidation and reduction firing process that was used to produce that particular rust colored stoneware and special glaze colors. Lee was very complimentary about how skillful Cressey was, in addition to being a great teacher and Lee knows a thing or two about ceramics. In addition to teaching and making ceramics for decades, he was also friends with Doyle Lane in his LA City College days.
Lee told a story about a merry-go-round Cressey had stashed away at the Venice AP facility. He said it made for a creepy scene having the intricately carved animals staring him down as he worked throwing and decorating pots. He worked on the smaller pieces because he wasn't as hulking as many of the potters, like Cressey and Michael Arntz. What he didn't talk about is when got in trouble for trying to unionize the AP staff. That actually did happen after he left the company.
Photo: Lee Whitten
Marilyn Kay Austin had just received her degree in Industrial Design and moved to California. She applied for job with Welton Becket. He didn't have any openings but recommended her to Rita Lawrence at Architectural Pottery. Marilyn said Rita was a champion for women's rights. She was hired in 1962. Marilyn was the first designer who was not a ceramicist. She designed a number of pieces for the company and also did graphic design. This included all the catalogs, starting in 1964, and line drawings for the price lists.
Normally a piece was made of clay by the designer and then a mold was done for production. Marilyn drew her designs so they have more of a graphic quality to them. Cressey would then transform her drawing into a full scale prototype in clay. She asked Cressey to teach her how to make the pieces herself but apparently his wife wouldn't allow it because that's how they started going out. She didn't mention it at the talk but in the past Marylin told me David was quite a hunk. As business slowed at Architectural Pottery she was let go and continued her design career at American Standard. She was even a professional cyclist at one point.
She made it a point to that Bill Stern from the Museum of California Design for connecting her to the renewed interest in AP. She read about Max Lawrence passing away and called his son Damon to offer her condolences. Damon mentioned Bill Stern was trying to reach her and wished to include her in a show he was curating. That was CALIFORNIA'S DESIGNING WOMEN: 1896–1986 which took place in 2012. You can read more about that here. I also visited Marilyn at her house in 2014. See that here.
Photo: Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape
Hi to you too Marilyn!
Damon Lawrence is the son of Max and Rita Lawrence, the founders of Architectural Pottery. He is in the gingham shirt with his family, who are all sitting on Van Keppel-Green furniture. Hendrick Van Keppel also remodeled and decorated their Bel Air home. He described his mom as someone who was exciting, hard working and strived for perfection. She also believed that good design could change the world. Although he was very young, he did small tasks around AP and that included spending time with the designers. His mom had a talent to bring people together and created a wonderful community of problem solvers. He mentioned that Cressey told him that AP's ability to slip cast the large forms was a major technological advance.
Photo: Architectural Pottery: Ceramics for a Modern Landscape
The second panel was with the collectors.
Alvin (on the left) has been collecting AP for over 30 years. He's an architect and focuses on Cressey. He was first exposed to AP seeing them during architecture school at USC. Pierre Koenig was one of his instructors. He claims to have over 100 pieces and I think he's being modest. He credits Scott at Ten10 for suggesting that he focus on collecting Cressey.
Emily began collecting fairly recently, during the pandemic. She started to decorate her recently-purchased Edward Fickett house and needed planters. Over the past five years, she has amassed an amazing collection with some real grail pieces. She is also drawn to Cressey's Pro Artisan planters.
Chris lives in Palm Springs and was first exposed to AP after seeing them in Julius Shulman photos. He bought a modern house in the late 1990s and started buying AP. He had been working on an AP book but life got in the way and it didn't happen. He was generous enough to turn over his research over to Jo, Dan and Jeffrey who did the book that accompanies this exhibition.
There was a point in which Chris said he didn't own any Cressey. Then Jo pointed out this monumental Cressey piece he loaned to the exhibition. Oh that little thing. Chris has an amazing and colorful collection.
After the talk, Danny from Modern For All reunited Lee with one of his pots from the 1960s. Danny had the pot but didn't know who it was by. Lee purchased it and then told him who he was. As you can see, they were both tickled about it.
More about Lee and his work can be found on his website: leewhitten.com
The talk took place on the last day of the exhibition. They were turning off the lights when I took this photo. If you didn't get a chance to see it, you can still get the book.
You can also see this post.