Last year the Museum of American Porcelain Art (MAPA) in Ohio opened a new exhibit featuring a subject that is dear to my heart: The contributions of the vast population of under-appreciated artists and artisans who actually created – on a daily basis – the beautiful porcelain art of past decades. The ‘Hidden Hands’ exhibit is located in the Artists’ Hallway that connects the Museum Shop to the Greenhouse.
The autumn 2024 issue of the MAPA’s digital newsletter (available on their website) includes this about the recently-opened exhibit:
Via the following photos, for which I sincerely thank Museum Curator Carey Barone, those of us who cannot physically visit the museum can appreciate this permanent exhibit as well.
This first photograph, showing the entry area to the hallway, was taken in July 2024 before the area was in its final form. However, the locations are the same today as they were then.
The first thing the visitor sees, on their left, is this introductory information. On their immediate right (not visible in the July photo) is the Boehm area.
Fourteen panels contain information about the artists and artisans who are known to have worked at the Boehm studios (whether in Trenton or in the Malvern, England studio.) Ten artists have their own individual panel with a photo and brief biography. Four panels commemorate artists whose names are known but details are presently lacking.
The next exhibit-wall area is devoted to Cybis. This is how the space appears today. The initial 1980s graphic-design phoenix/name logo was replaced by the familiar Cybis signature found on all of the modern (post-1950s) sculptures themselves. There are 14 panels here as well. From left to right in this photo, they honor:
Laura Lewis and Jules Olewa (gold panel)
Susan Eaton (dark blue panel)
Harry Burger (lime green panel)
Helen Granger Young (lighter pink panel)
William Pae (teal panel)
Ginny MacCotter (peach panel)
Patricia Eakin (dark lilac panel)
George Ivers (dark green panel)
Marja Cybis (dark pink panel)
Lynn Klockner Brown (magenta panel
Marylin Chorlton (violet blue panel)
Dolores Valenza (tan panel)
Gertrude Fass (purple panel)
The horizontal photograph panel, appearing in their 1978 catalog, shows all the Cybis employees outside the studio one day during the first half of the decade. The vertical panel lists all of the known Cybis employees and freelancers that are in my Honor Roll post here in the Archive.
I was delighted to work with the Museum on this project by supplying biographical information and photographs for the artist panels. Panels that include a large QR code enable visitors to see my Artist Profile for that person. My profile of Gertrude Fass is now available, and I will do the for Ginny MacCotter later this year after I receive additional information about her work. Additional thanks to the Museum for displaying my website address on the exhibit wall along with a QR code leading to the home page! 😊
A closer look at three of the Cybis artist panels: Ginny MacCotter, George Ivers, and Lynn Klockner Brown. George Ivers does have an Artist Profile here (actually a three-part one!) but it was uploaded shortly after the physical panels were made. Lynn’s panel includes an example of the Artist-Profile QR codes.
Not yet created at the time of the July 2024 hallway photo is the Bronn of America section, which is on the wall directly opposite the Cybis artists display. This was a select but sadly short-lived brand that was brought to the USA in the late 1970s by Ira Jacobson and Stephen Weston, of Brielle Galleries. Bronn was originally founded earlier that decade in England by Brian Ormerod and Simon Joyner (shown in the two dark blue panels.) Ira and Stephen wanted to bring their high-quality/small quantity level of fine workmanship to the USA, focusing on American West and Native American subjects, with Brielle Galleries as their home and primary retail gallery. A small house about a block away from the store was purchased and equipped as a combination home/workspace for the two artists along with Steve Weston who was, and still is, a fine craftsman in his own right. The venture was christened Bronn of America and operated for barely ten years; the changing winds of the market took their toll on Bronn, as they did on every other art porcelain studio. The relatively small number of Bronn pieces that were made (it took months to produce each large but incredibly detailed limited-edition study) means they are rarely seen for sale nowadays and are relatively unknown. The upper and lower panels in the MAPA exhibit show Stephen Weston and Ira Jacobson, respectively.
The panel honoring Ira Jacobson; I wrote about Ira and Brielle in detail a few years ago in an In Memoriam post, because he was a such key figure in establishing the Cybis studio’s success.
The only downside to the location of this exhibit is that it is too risky a location in which to place any actual examples of some of the porcelains that these hidden hands produced; however, that same location means that it can be a permanent exhibit that is not subject to rotation for reasons of space. Luckily, the Museum has plenty of examples of the work of all of the artists featured in the exhibit! :-)
Again, many thanks to Curator Carey Barone and to the Museum of American Porcelain Art staff and Board for creating this tribute to the true unsung heroes of American art porcelain. A detailed Archive post about MAPA and its collection of Cybis will appear later this year.
Browse the Cybis Artist Profiles category
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
About the Cybis Reference Archive
What is Cybis?
Images of Cybis porcelains are provided for informational and educational purposes only. All photographs are copyrighted by their owner as indicated via watermark and are used here only as reference material. Please see the Copyright Notice in the footer and sidebar for important information regarding the text that appears within this website.
The Cybis Archive is a continually-updated website that provides the most comprehensive range of information about Cybis within a single source. It is not and never has been part of the Cybis Porcelain studio, which is no longer in business.
THE CYBIS ARCHIVE 