“Art, Labor and Community-Building at Hull House Kilns.”

Pottery created at the Hull-House Kilns in the 1920s and 1930s was strongly influenced by concerns for industrial, social consequences. The Kilns functioned as a model factory, enriching lives and offering hope and promise to immigrants, neighbors, reformers, artists, and faculty tied to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Mexican immigrant students and artists of Mexican heritage at Hull-House learned a design technique developed by the Mexican artist and art educator Adolfo Best-Maugard. Hull-House potters repeated his motifs as decoration to evoke a modern stylization akin to 'Native Indian' art. Going well beyond historical patterns and traditions, the artists of Hull-House Kilns also produced signed art pottery with simple combinations of geometric shapes and bold-colored glazes, plus dinnerware that the Kilns replicated with molds. The pottery goods were useful in the immigrant homes, in the Hull-House Residents’ dining room, and to the larger community through sales at the Hull-House Shop. The Kilns provided opportunities for women and Mexican immigrant artists, taught skills to non-English-speaking immigrants, and achieved collaboration between art and industry. This extensive part of the settlement’s art schools ran concurrently with its fine art programs, described in the next talk, and the common treads and contrasts will be discussed.