Enfilade

From Historic Deerfield:

Yankee Ingenuity and New England Decorative Arts, 1790–1840
Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, Massachusetts, 13–15 November 2015

Join us for an in-depth examination of the decorative arts of New England’s inventors, merchants and peddlers during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

When President Adams moved into the new White House in 1800, innovation and adaptation already drove the creative designs of many New England-made objects. Even as elite tastes maintained traditional ties to European styles and materials, the consumer demands of an expanding middle class fueled inventive entrepreneurial approaches to making and selling cheaper, attractive, American-made goods. At times protected or even encouraged by embargo, war, and westward expansion, New Englanders made and sold a profusion of wares including patent clocks, popular prints, glassware, stoneware, tinware, pewter, cast iron stoves, and stenciled and painted furniture. First competing with and ultimately replacing European manufactures for many families, they infused their products with artistic energy and excitement that spurred a national impulse to ‘Buy American’. Forum speakers and demonstrators will include Peter Benes, Deborah Child, David Jaffee, Amanda Lange, Ned Lazaro, William McMillen, Mary Cheek Mills, Sumpter Priddy, Andrew Raftery, Christine Ritok, and Philip Zea.

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Participants who arrive early are welcome to walk The Street and enjoy Deerfield’s historic houses. The museum exhibits ingenious examples of New England decorative arts in the Museum’s Attic of the Flynt Center of Early New England Life and in the exhibition Into the Woods: Crafting Early American Furniture. Before the Forum begins, four optional workshops (additional fee required) and one estate planning workshop (no fee) are offered on Friday afternoon, November 13.

1:00–2:30  Optional Workshop: “Connoisseurship of Antique Tinware: The Trade, Materials, Tradesmen, Tools, and Products,” William McMillen, Master Tinsmith, Glenmont, NY
1:00–2:30  Optional Workshop: “Yankee Potters: New England-Made Ceramics,” Amanda Lange, Curatorial Department Director, Historic Deerfield

3:00–4:30  Optional Workshop:  “Peddling Fashion: Accessories in Early New England, 1790–1840,” Ned Lazaro, Associate Curator of Textiles and Collections Manager, Historic Deerfield
3:00–4:30  Optional Workshop: “Glass in Early America: An Introduction to History and Technology,” Mary C. Mills, Historic Glass Specialist, Cultural Resources Management, AECOM

5:00  Opening Reception

6:00  Welcome by Philip Zea, President, Historic Deerfield, Inc.

6:10  Keynote Lecture: “Fashioning the New Nation in Post-Revolutionary New England,” David Jaffee, Professor and Head of New Media Research, Bard Graduate Center

7:30  Dinner on own or prix fixe dinner at the Deerfield Inn

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8:30  Registration, coffee, and refreshments

9:30  Lecture: “American Fancy and Rural New England Creativity,” Sumpter Priddy, Historic Furnishings Consultant, Alexandria, VA

10:30  Break

11:00  Lecture: “Elegance and Innovation in Early New England Glassmaking,” Mary C. Mills, Historic Glass Specialist, Cultural Resources Management, AECOM

12:15  Lunch

2:00  Lecture: “Richard Brunton—Engraver to Early America –Legitimate and Otherwise,” Deborah M. Child, Author, Lecturer and Independent Curator

3:00  Break

3:30  Demonstration: “The Art and Craft of Copperplate Engraving,” Andrew Raftery, Professor of Printmaking, Rhode Island School of Design

5:30  Reception

6:45  Dinner on own or prix fixe dinner at the Deerfield Inn

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8:30  Coffee and refreshments

9:30  Lecture: “’Rich and Tasty’ Vermont Furniture: Revolution to Reinvention,” Philip Zea, President, Historic Deerfield

10:30  Break

11:00  Lecture: “Inspiration/Innovation: Exemplary Furniture on The Street,” Christine Ritok, Associate Curator, Historic Deerfield

11:30  Lecture: “The ‘Yankee Peddler’: Notes Toward a Multicultural Perspective,” Peter Benes, Director of the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife

Lunch

2:00  Optional Guided Tour: “Exploring Historic Deerfield’s Collection of New England Folk Portraiture: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors, and Silhouettes,” Flynt Center of Early New England Life