Programs

Tea set with strawberry pattern.
Terra-cotta-colored tea set with floral pattern.
Light blue jasperware tea set.
Tea set, white with ornate deep red vegetal patterns.

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

Remembering Lucille Beeson

The next lecture of the WSB will be presented by E. Bryding Adams, former curator of the Beeson Wedgwood Collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, on Sunday, November 17, at 2:00 pm EST, via ZOOM. A casual talk, Bryding will share her relationship with “Lucille Stewart Beeson – Collector and Donor Extraordinaire”. The Beeson collection housed at the BMA represents the most significant accumulation of 18th century Wedgwood in the USA. Mrs. Beeson always consulted with Bryding before making an acquisition, asking, “Don’t you think we should buy that for the collection”? The popular catalog was compiled by Bryding in 1992. 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: “Ornamental Wares in 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.

Two blue-green variegated vases with gold-colored details.

Classic Black by Brian Gallagher

Grayish-black sculpture of a sleeping baby.

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).