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High School Art Teacher and Antiques Dealer
When I came back home I began scouring antique shops to look for other delft pieces and then took the leap and started attending auctions to find it. At the time I did not realize how addictive the auctions would become and of course could not pass up other "deals" as I was buying the delft. Soon enough I had amassed a collection of other antiques I did not know what to do with. One of the auction houses I frequently attended, and still do, was in my hometown of Marathon, New York. Jerry Wilcox and Tom Carmen, the auctioneers and owners of a multi-story antique co-op, soon became very good friends.
In the summer of 1995 I approached Jerry about consigning a small display case to sell some of the items I had acquired. That proved to be lucrative, but of course I still kept going to auctions picking up more and more items, becoming continually intrigued by all the types and colors of delft and eventually embossed white ironstone and transfer ware ironstone. The small display case soon developed into a small floor booth and eventually to the two large booths I now have in a prominent spot at the top of the stairs in the two-story shop. You cannot miss it with the two display cases of Delft and the multiple shelving units of ironstone. I have also expanded to fine art prints, photography, furniture and glassware. I have found the people in this business are some of the friendliest, most professional, competent and knowledgeable friends and acquaintances I have in my life. This includes all the wonderful ebay family I have come to know like the Maro's, Dieringer's, S. Palmer, R. Erikson, Butch, my coworker Melissa and many, MANY others!!
As you might guess, my career and "hobby" could not be kept separate. I continually take pieces from my personal collection into school to show as demonstration pieces for lessons and examples for art history units. It has been enriching for me to see students become excited about learning. For instance, photography students can see, handle and learn about items like cameras, daguerreotypes, tintypes, cabinet cards along with stereo optic viewers and cards. Cartooning/Animation students can see and study original works by cartoonists like Al Hirshfeld, Johnny Hart and Al Williamson. Printmaking students can study monoprint, etching and woodblock techniques by looking at masters from Piranese to Rowlandson to Hiroshige. And finally, my FAVORITE subject to teach, ceramic students can look at work from periods and studios such as EnglishtTapestry and ironstone (both embossed and transfer ware), Majolica, Native American, American studios and artists along with specific potters like Maria Martinez and Leon Senf.
My greatest joy is still collecting the Delft and English white ironstone. It was only natural for me to use that as the basis for some great lessons in my ceramic courses. Students in Ceramics back in 1999 began creating Vestelft, or VESTal dELFT.
As a class we discussed how delft pottery reflects the events, landscape, people, places and history of Holland. Delft also depicts local, national and commemorative events. Students were shown the process for casting clay in plaster molds and how to prepare it for the painting process.
Students decided to create a delft-style pottery for our area of New York State, the town of Vestal and Broome County in general. They brainstormed about the imagery that could be used. There are 10 school districts in Broome County so one idea was to create a tile for each district like each tile that represents a city in Holland. Another idea was to create a series of mugs for each of the businesses on the Vestal Parkway, the road where the high school is located. Another idea was to commemorate a local summer extravaganza, The Spedie Fest and Balloon Rally. Yet another idea was to commemorate that Binghamton, New York is the carousel capital of the United States. Some of the most expensive delft depicts portraits of people so students also came up with famous people from the area that could be portrayed like Rod Serling and E. J. Johnson. They also came up with many other ideas like the local parks, famous landmarks and national events like 9/11. We discussed that floral sprays are widely used in delft and that we could use that on our Vestelft. In the end the students were able to choose their imagery and created drawings showing the delft influence of traditional symmetrical designs, the use of cartouches and vignettes, and with the use of accents and color washes.
Students cast their mold and clean off the pour cup, seams and edges while it is still leather hard. Students premark their greenware with their self designed signature using their initials. After the pieces are bisque fired, the approved sketches are applied lightly to the clay with pencil. We then discuss some of the color schemes used on delft pottery and students choose one of them. Blauw is the blue color typically found on delft. Pijnacker (Pie`-na-ker) uses blue and red together with accents in 24-karat gold. Polychrome is a multicolor scheme showing yellow ochre, blue, red, brown, and sometimes green. Delvert is the design in green and is the Dutch word for green. There is also Porselein-Biscuit which is a cream, green and gold color scheme. The last two color schemes becomes very popular as Vestal's school colors are green and gold.
Students back in 1999 created the date code that would be used for our Vestelft. They brainstormed on different configurations of marks and voted that a bear paw (we are the Golden Bears) with a "V" in the middle would be the most appropriate. They decided to stay as true to the De Porceleyne Fles mark as possible with the artist's initials being placed on the left side, the mold number being placed below and the date code being placed to the right. Ceramics is taught every other year so the spring of 1999, spring of 2001, spring of 2003, and the fall of 2004 have progressed the Vestelft date code to the letter D. I did not teach ceramics in 2006 so there was not Vestelft that year. I am THRILLED to announce that I will be teaching 3 sections of ceramics for the 2008-2009 school year and Vestelft will be back in the curriculum!!!
After the designs and marks are painted on the bisqued clay, the pieces are fired a second time to vitrify the color on the surface so the designs will not smear when clear glazed. A coat of clear glaze is then applied and the pieces fired for the third and final time.
I have kept a record of the student's initials and names. This is compiled in a Vestelft "booklet" of sorts. If you ever come across a piece of Vestelft on ebay, realize it is pretty rare, was made with great pride and could be one of the collectables of tomorrow....bid HIGH!!!
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