Some Stickley and Arts and Crafts Movement Sites - actual and online

Some Stickley and Arts and Crafts Movement Sites - actual and online

by Samuel D. Gruber

Thanks to everyone who came to my talk at Petit Library on Monday, and especially to Marilyn Smith for inviting me to speak.  Thanks to Quinn for helping set up - and with managing the large turnout.  I love my local library and all the great programming done there.  It was a good turnout and I hope everyone found it informative and entertaining.   As promised, I'm posting just a few of the many resources you can use to further explore the Arts and Crafts experience in Syracuse and Central New York.

This is a short list – hardly exhaustive– but I invite readers to send me new sites – real and virtual – worth visiting! 

Arts and Crafts Society of Central New York

 

The Arts and Crafts Society is the go to group for experts and enthusiasts for local (and beyond) Arts and Crafts information.  The society organizes talks, seminars and tours encourages documentation and research.  You can follow the society on Facebook or follow Joann Capella's blog here.   Become a member and get involved. 

Everson Museum of Art 

The Everson Museum of Art is always the place to Arts & Crafts (and much more). Now, through September 22, see the exhibition "An American Look: Fashion, Decorative Arts, & Gustav Stickley" curated by Jeffrey Mayer, associate professor in fashion design at Syracuse University and Deb Ryan, Everson curator. 

 Everson Museum of Art, An American Look: Fashion, Decorative Arts, & Gustav Stickley

Sarah Lanigan, Director of The Stickley Museum will be giving a free lecture at the Everson on Sunday, August 11, 2013, at 2.00pm.  The walking gallery tour of the exhibition will include a discussion on the impact of the Stickleys on American design and home life.

Don't stop at the exhibition. By sure to visit the ceramics collection in the basement where beside more work by Adelaide Alsop Robineau (who is well featured in the exhibit) there is always a wide array of early 20^th century American Art Pottery on view including work by Grueby, Rookwood, Marblehead, Tiffany, George Ohr, and many others.   

Stickley Museum, Fayetteville

300 Orchard St., Fayetteville 

The Stickley Museum is located in the former L & J Stickley Factory in Fayetteville, the downstairs of which was converted into the local library (a fine work of adaptive reuse by Julia Marshall and the team at Holmes, King, Kallquist, architects). The museum presents a full array of work by all the Stickleys, and historical and technical information in the permanent exhibition A Well Crafted Legacy, that explores over a century of furniture making excellence.  

Visit the museum website for informative videos of contemporary craftsman at work and other relevant material. 

Dalton's American Decorative Arts

1931 James St. (Eastwood), Syracuse 

Syracuse is blessed to have in our midst, since 1980, one of the premier stores for the exhibition and sale of fine Arts and Crafts furniture, textiles and other works, presided over by David Rudd, one of the county's authorities on Stickley, the Arts and Crafts movement, and especially the unique qualities of fine Arts and Crafts furniture. (David was very kind and patient in Monday's audience with some of my broad and less-refined remarks on the subject). 

Several pieces from the collection of Dalton's principals David and wife Debbie Goldwein are in the Everson exhibit. The store is very much a museum-quality gallery, and since things sell, the display is always changing. Despite the prices paid for unique Stickley pieces high-rollers, at Dalton's there are also pieces affordable for most pocketbooks.  David an Debbie are very kind to lookers as well as buyers. Dalton's is an destination stop for Arts and Crafts trekkers from around the country (check hours here).  If you can't make it to the store you can browse Dalton's Arts and Crafts inventory here.

Dalton's regularly exhibits and sells works by Gustav Stickley, L & J G Stickley, Roycroft, Limbert, Rohlfs and other Arts and Crafts producers of mission oak furniture as well as items from the American Arts and Crafts Movement including Grueby, Newcomb, Marblehead, Rookwood, Roycroft, Dirk Van Erp and others. In addition to furniture and art, Dalton's sells a large selection of specialized publications about the Arts and Crafts movement.  See the list here.

The Gustav Stickley House

438 Columbus Avenue

Syracuse, NY. Gustav Stickley House, 438 Columbus Ave. Photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2012

The house is not open to the public, but plans are getting started for its transformation to an Arts and Crafts and exhibition center, a partnership of the Everson Museum of Art and the L. and J.G. Stickley Company.  Meanwhile you can drive or walk by and get some sense of Gustav's neighborhood.  The house when built and purchased by the Stickleys in 1900 was one of the first on the street, but by the time of Gustav's death in 1942, all the houses you now see were up and occupied.  The script for my walking tour of the area can be downloaded here.

Ward Wellington Ward Houses

Syracuse, NY. 309 Allen street. Former Roy Carpenter House. photo: Samuel D. Gruber 2013.

There are many Ward Wellington Ward designed houses around the city and region, but all are privately owned and few are publicly accessible. Still, you can see can some sense of their exterior appearance. You can find a partial list here. I've posted about a few Ward houses, such as those on Walnut Avenue. I'll put up some galleries of Ward houses in the coming weeks.  The former Estabrook Estate at 7262 East Genesee in Fayetteville is now the Wellington House, open for catered functions, but you often arrange to visit.   Designed by Ward in 1922, the exterior and interior are mostly intact and give a great impression of Ward's aesthetic (when he had the budget).  You can see pictures here.

Many of Ward's fine presentation drawings – plans and elevations – are preserved at the Onondaga Historical Association. This can be viewed by appointment. There may be a fee for using the Research Center involved. Call in advance to arrange this and for details. 

Online Resources

The Craftsman magazine can now be read online (or printed) in its entirety thanks to the University of Wisconsin which has digitized the entire run. This is an amazing research resource, but also just a lot of fun to allow you to dip into the Arts and Crafts aesthetic (surprisingly eclectic) of a century ago. 

Stickley Catalogs

The Winterthur Museum and Library has one the best – or perhaps the best- collections of decorative arts in the country, as well as extensive collections of trade catalogs and other print resources. Now you do not have to go to Delaware to use many of these.  Many furniture catalogs have been digitized including a wide range of Stickley related catalogs. look at some here:

Chips from the workshops of the United Crafts, Eastwood, N.Y., U.S.A. - United Crafts.

Catalogue of craftsman furniture made by Gustav Stickley at The Craftsman Workshops, Eastwood, N.Y.

Craftsman furnishings : furniture, leathers, metal-work, fabrics and needle-work / made only by Gustav Stickley.

 Craftsman furnishings for the home made by Gustav Stickley, The Craftsman, Inc., Eastwood, N. Y.

 Handmade furniture from the Onondaga Shops. - L. and J.G. Stickley Inc.