Please note that some of our lectures continue to be held via video conferencing and all members receive an email notice with the ZOOM link. Otherwise, in-person meetings are held in the greater Boston area and are free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated. Also note that the WSB now offers to its members the ability to enjoy past lectures they may have missed or wish to revisit. Please go to the Members Zone page and follow the easy instructions.
Next Meeting
Something Blue…
Join us for the next ZOOM lecture of the WSB to be held Sunday, March 16, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. EDST, when Ben Miller, ceramics curator, will present, ‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue: The Wedgwood Collection at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery.’ The origins of the ceramics collection at this museum in Stoke-on-Trent, England, are as fascinating and varied as the ceramics themselves. Its collection of Wedgwood wares is no exception. Amassed over 3 centuries through bequests, gifts and purchases, the Wedgwood collection helps to tell the story of the Father of the Potteries and his company over its 266-year existence.
Ben Miller, Ceramics Curator and Programme Manager for Stoke Museums Service has worked with ceramics collections since 2012 starting his career as Assistant at The Wedgwood Museum during which time he was able to research a wide variety of topics across the Wedgwood collection and archive. In 2015 he joined the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery as Assistant Curator of Ceramics and has since worked on a number of exhibitions and given talks to collectors’ societies. In 2022 he became Ceramics Curator and Programme Manager for Stoke Museums Service with responsibilities across the services’ four museums. Ben holds a BA from Keele University and a MA from Birmingham University’s Ironbridge Institute.
Members will receive the ZOOM link a week prior to the meeting. If you are not a WSB member and would like to join, click onto the Become a Member tab above.
Meeting and Lecture Schedule
2024-2025 Meeting and Lecture Schedule
Sunday, September 15, 2024 at 2:00 P.M. Members’ Participation: “Annual Wedgwood Bits & Pieces”; to be held remotely via Zoom.
Sunday, November 17, 2024 at 2:00 P.M. Bryding Adams, Curator Emerita, BMA: “Lucille Stewart Beeson: Wedgwood Collector & Donor Extraordinaire”; to be held via Zoom
Sunday, January 12, 2025 at 2:00 P.M. Woody Johnson, Collector: “All Eyes Were Fixed on the Vases: A Gift of Wedgwood Jasper for the Emperor of China in 1793”; to be held via Zoom
Sunday, January 19, 2025 at 2:00 P.M. (Bonus meeting in conjunction with WSWDC), Wedgwood Curator: “Unpacking the V&A Wedgwood Collection, Part I”; to be held via Zoom
Sunday, March 16, 2025 at 2:00 P.M. Ben Miller, Curator Potteries Museum: “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue”; to be held via Zoom
Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 2:00 P. M. The Elizabeth Chellis Memorial Lecture: Wedgwood Curator: “Unpacking the V&A Wedgwood Collection, Part II; and “Annual General Meeting”; to be held via Zoom
Sunday, July 20, 2025. Members & Guests Participation: “Third Annual Summer Social”; to be held in-person at a venue t/b/d
Highlights from Previous Meetings
Wörlitz by Harwood Johnson
Having visited Wörlitz in Germany, Woody Johnson shared the history and images of the Wedgwood objects acquired by Leopold III Friedrich Franz, Prince von Anhalt-Dessau (1740–1817). The 18th century palace and its collections still stand intact to this day. The example here is a pair of Wedgwood & Bentley variegated vases on basalt plinths.
Classic Black by Brian Gallagher
Curator Brian Gallagher of the Mint Museum, Charlotte, N.C., presented “Classic Black: The Basalt Sculpture of Wedgwood and His Contemporaries,” an exhibit he staged along with an accompanying book. Shown here is Somnus (the sleeping baby).