Williams, Gerry (1926-2014)

Name:

Williams, Gerry (1926-2014)

Title:

New Hampshire Artist Laureate, 1998
Member, League of New Hampshire Craftsmen
Fellow of American Crafts Council
Honorary trustee of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts
Honorary member of National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
On the board of advisors for the Appalachian Craft Center
Listed in "Who's Who of American Art"
Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Notre Dame College and Cornell College, Iowa

Other Names:

Williams, Frederick Gerald

Born:

01/05/1926

Birthplace:

Asansol, India

Died:

08/24/2014

Residence:

India -- as a youth
Iowa -- c. 1943, to attend Cornell College
Vinylhaven, ME
New Hampshire -- 1949, when he decided to study pottery
Concord, NH
Dunbarton, NH -- by 1972, through old age

Nationality:

American

Occupation:

Potter, Master Craftsman -- 1950s-c.2000, worked primarily in stoneware, but also worked in redware and porcelain.
Editor of Studio Potter Magazine, and instructor/organizer of Phoenix Workshops.

Relations:

Son of American Missionaries
Apprentice to John Butler of Center Ossipee
Took classes with Vivika Heino and Richard Moll
Worked in the tradition of Daniel Clark

Spouse:

Blake, Julie

Children:

(children)

Notes:

From "Gerry Williams A Retrospective," 1993: "As [Daniel] Clark had done before him, Williams became an apprentice. In 1949 William interviewed with David Campbell, then director of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. For a salary of $15 a week, Williams was hired as a stockboy to work in the League's pottery lab and entered the classes of Vivika Heino of Contoocook and Loudon potter Dick Moll.
'I was very lucky to be able to work with Vivika in the basement of the League, says Williams. She taught a general course, but her specific interest was in earthenware and glaze.' Williams attributes much of his basic knowledge of glazed to Heino's gifted teaching....
Along with fellow students Ruth Tobey, Jesse Blackstone and Lily Hoffman, Williams worked in the basement studio, with its 'wholesome atmosphere of clay dust, lead and potassium dichromate.'
'It was an exciting time for me to be associated with the League, says Williams, and I soaked it up like a sponge. Living in and being a part of this dynamic craft community was heady stuff, and I loved it".... In the spring of 1951, Williams was taken on as an apprentice to John Butler of Philadelphia who had recently opened a new production pottery studio in Wolfeboro, NH with Joseph and Bunny Trippetti, then students of Butler in Philadelphia. Although the studio closed within a few years, Williams was able to learn much about studio operations including casting, jiggering, mold-making, studio layout, production techniques and high-temperature glazing....
In 1952, in Concord's Black Hill area, Williams opened his own studio with a used 12" x 12" electric kiln and kick wheel in an unheated milk room which he rented for seven dollars a week. With a 'get to work' philosophy, Williams worked 14 to 16 hours a day, throwing hundreds of pots, and testing an equal number of glazes. 'I made cups, saucers, cereal bowls, dinner plates and mugs, says Williams. Every piece showed more that a passing debt to some other potter, but then we all have to start somewhere."
From Concord Monitor Friday section article, 9/16/1988: "Williams was an apprentice to John Butler of Ossipee in ther early 1950s."
SEE ALSO: Artist/Maker field -- Williams, Gerry
SEE ALSO (teacher): Butler, John
SEE ALSO (teacher): Heino, Vivika