Art Pottery

The term art pottery has come to mean different things to pottery collectors who buy and sell collectible pottery. Art pottery is a widely used term to describe pottery produced and used primarily for decorative purposes rather than utilitarian purposes. Many of the more traditionally recognized decorative art pottery companies such as Roseville, Weller, Rookwood, Van Briggle, Owens, Teco all produced utilitarian pottery in addition to the more highly sought-after and collectible art pottery.

Art pottery cannot be defined by a particular span of years. For example, much of what is typically considered American art pottery was produced between 1870 and 1920. However, throughout that time period and even today, studio potters are still producing hand crafted and decorated pottery that must be considered art pottery. In many cases, the best contemporary art pottery are one-of-a-kind examples and comparable quality to the art pottery produced by Roseville, Rookwood, Van Briggle, and Weller.

Furthermore art pottery can not be defined by a particular style or design. Art pottery includes diverse decorating styles such as: simple and classical arts and crafts style made famous by companies like Teco and Marblehead pottery; matte glazes made famous by Grueby, Hampshire, and Van Briggle pottery; underglaze slip decorated art pottery made famous by Rookwood pottery and produced by others including Roseville, Weller, Owens, etc; to art deco style art pottery such as Roseville’s Futura line.