The Tyg

The Last Drop: Intoxicating Pottery, Past, and Present, opening on Dec. 9, 2017 at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC

We are invited to be part of an exhibition, The Last Drop: Intoxicating Pottery, Past, and Present, opening on December 9, 2017 at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC.  The show is a collaboration between the North Carolina Pottery Center located in Seagrove, NC and the Chipstone Foundation, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

The North Carolina Pottery Center has a permanent display showing historical and contemporary pottery of NC, as well as, rotating exhibitions. The Chipstone Foundation is known for their world-renowned collection of 17th and 18th-century pottery and rotating exhibitions. 

We are currently working on this project in our studio, and excited about the potential of researching this piece and time period, not only specifically for this project, but also for where it may lead some ideas for our work in the future.  We looked around for Tyg images finding many on Pinterest and other sites. We have also purchased a few books and are currently fantasizing about different ways we could play off of the doubled multiple handles, and the other decorative aspects of these Tygs and other pieces from this period.

   Thirteen potters and two pottery couple have been selected to choose a ceramic piece from the Chipstone collection and respond to the piece by making a piece that will be juxtaposed along with the selected historical ceramic object.

  The Chipstone Foundation (publisher) and Robert Hunter (editor) work together to produce the series of books called Ceramics in America. Ceramics in America is a series of richly illustrated books filled with articles about historical ceramics from the American context. It is intended for anyone interested in pottery:  a collector, historical archaeologist, curator, decorative arts student, social historian, contemporary potter, or pottery lover.

The ceramic object we selected is called a Tyg.  Our Tyg was made in 1649 and is thought to be made by Thomas Ifield. The multi-handled Tyg, functioned in the British Alehouse as a communal drinking vessel passed from person to person.

The Last Drop: Intoxicating Pottery, Past, and Present, opening on Dec. 9, 2017 at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC

The Last Drop: Intoxicating Pottery, Past, and Present, opening on Dec. 9, 2017 at the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC