February 2008 - September 2008
"Twenty six miles across the sea…" Those who remember rotary phones and black-and-white television know that the lyrics to this Four Preps song refer to California's Santa Catalina Island, also musically known as "the Island of Romance." Inhabited by Native Americans for almost 7,000 years, visited by a succession of Spanish explorers, pirates, otter hunters, and ranchers, Catalina Island has long been a source of lively myths and romantic fantasies.
Before the advent of jet travel, the Island was one of Hollywood's favorite retreats and a must-see destination in Southern California. Today it is a cruise ship stopover and a nature sanctuary stewarded by the descendents of chewing gum magnate William Wrigley, Jr., who purchased Catalina sight-unseen in 1919 and spent the following decade developing and promoting his "tile isle."
Catalina's pottery and tile factory was formed in 1927 as a practical endeavor to build the resort town of Avalon with bricks and roofing tiles made from local clay deposits while providing year-round work for its residents. As the range of Catalina's products broadened to include gifts and souvenirs for visitors, the Island enterprise attracted skilled painters, designers, and ceramicists. By 1931 the Catalina Island Pottery and Tile Company was producing more than 4,000 items a month and selling them from stores on the mainland—first marketing their products as Avalonware and later as Catalinaware.
Geography played a significant role in the distinctive pottery that emerged from the small, seaside factory during its brief ten-year existence. Artists working on Catalina—and at other California potteries—were liberated from the conventions of pottery makers closer to the cultural centers of the East Coast and found their inspiration locally. Catalina's pottery reflected the Southwestern landscape, California's Spanish Colonial history, and the vivid color palette of the art and ceramics of California's closest neighbor—Mexico.
The wit and ingenuity of Catalina's artists resulted in a great diversity of original pottery and the introduction of new forms for traditional functions. Ashtrays were formed as cowboy hats, salt- and pepper-shakers as cacti, and vases appeared as nautilus shells. Catalina's artists also derived new functions from traditional forms. Lamps were created from vases and urns, and oil jars were produced as decorative pottery for the gardens and patios that featured so prominently in the California lifestyle.
Catalina's pottery provided a degree of cheer and affordable luxury for many households during the Great Depression and helped to popularize colorful ceramic dinnerware and kitchenware throughout the United States. Although Catalina Pottery ceased operating after it was purchased by one of its competitors in 1937, its legacy is reflected in the vivid, solid-color pottery found in today's department store showrooms and housewares catalogs.
Catalina Island is increasingly recognized as an important source of California's nearly forgotten ceramic art tradition. Most visitors reach the Island by catamaran from Los Angeles and take walking tours of Avalon's tiled storefronts, fountains, and historic theater and dance hall—all evoking Mr. Wrigley's resourceful and influential Island enterprise.
This exhibition features Catalina tile and pottery from the collections of guest curator Carole Coates and fellow collector Jerry Kunz.
Photography is not permitted.
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This exhibit is beyond the screener checkpoint, where only ticketed passengers are allowed.