Trad/Fad

Pitcher

This ceramic pitcher, dated to 1802–10, was made in England, despite its pro-American content celebrating the new republic’s success in the Revolutionary War. For many years, England had been producing ceramics that satisfied the demands of the American colonies for commemorative pottery, and after independence, this tradition continued. On one side, the pitcher depicts an American soldier who gestures magnanimously out to the distance. Behind him, flying proudly, is a flag bearing the motto of the United States: E Pluribus Unum. An inscription beneath the soldier reads, “While Justice is the Throne to which we are bound to bend/ Our Country’s Rights and Laws we ever will defend.” Iconography glorifying the newly founded nation continues on the reverse side, which displays portraits of two Founding Fathers: Samuel Adams and John Hancock. Below them lies a cornucopia, symbolizing the bounty of the young nation. At the top of the scene is a representation of the Washington memorial, celebrating the accomplishments of the first president of the United States. An inscription below the memorial reads, “Columbia’s Sons Inspir’d by Freedom’s Flame,/ Live in the Annals of Immortal Fame.” This patriotic text and imagery is explicitly politicized; it is a celebration of a new country, those who fought for it, and the politicians who run it. This begs the question: How new a phenomenon is the politicization of craft, really? Is it rather that the politicization of craft now moves against the grain, standing apart from and opposed to dominant culture?

 

America in Danger

A response to this question might be found in America in Danger / 2018 USA,  a work by the American artist Mara Superior. Her work consciously engages with and plays upon the history of the decorative arts—a history that has walked hand in hand with politics. Contrary to centuries of commemorative pottery, as represented by the pitcher, however, Superior has created a polemic in ceramic form. Her embellished butter dish features mini gold-framed portraits of four Founding Fathers around the border: (clockwise, from the top left) Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams. Like the pitcher’s, the work’s inscriptions do not disguise their meaning. On the right edge, overlaying a red-colored map of America, it reads “Republicans/ Evil’s in Power/ Retrogression.” Meanwhile, a parallel inscription on the left edge, over a blue-colored map, reads “Candidate/ Democratic/ Where are you?/ Who?” The centerpiece focuses on contemporary politics, critiquing the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump’s presidency in unequivocal language. A button on the bottom right satirizes Trump by portraying him as an orange, above which stretches the imperative, “Impeach.”

In summary

Through her criticism of the American president and the country’s two major political parties, Superior subverts the commemorative tradition of the pitcher while highlighting an important facet of contemporary culture: the politicization not only of craft, but of our lives. Every choice we make—between two brands in a grocery store, whether to drive or cycle, to follow or unfollow a social media personality—is problematized. As such, to have our butter dish tell us to impeach the president becomes oddly quotidian. Crafting once entailed the creation of the implements of daily life, so if our daily life is now marked by politics, should not our crafts be, too?