We had a wonderful celebration of ceramic art at WMODA and the Gallery of Amazing Things last month. Fans of pottery and porcelain flew in from all over the United States and were entertained by a program of talks by international experts on Friday, September 20, followed by auction viewings, cocktail receptions and a celebration dinner during the weekend.

Michael Doulton came from England for the event and shared his version of The Doulton Story with Louise Irvine, our Executive Director and Curator. Louise began her museum career researching Royal Doulton at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and took collectors on a nostalgic tour down memory lane. Christopher Evans and Paul Webster, British publishers of the Royal Doulton Collectors magazine, introduced all the treasures from the Lambeth and Burslem studio which were auctioned by Whitley’s on Saturday.

Dr. Gwendolen Reasoner took guests for a bird-watching tour of her porcelain aviary which included a complete collection of Royal Worcester’s Birds of America by Dorothy Doughty. Many were acquired by Arthur Wiener and will be on exhibition at WMODA for The Birds & the Bees weekend on November 9 and 10. Dr. Reasoner will be back that weekend with more insights into bird life and porcelain art.

Our new exhibition of Wedgwood’s Fairyland Lustre performed as promised and bowled everyone over! Curator Louise Irvine will be talking about the enchanted world of Daisy Makeig-Jones during our Sensational Saturday event on October 12.  Dr. Pat Sager Lane will be returning that day also to tell us more about the art of Josephine Wall. She delighted everyone with her deep love of fantasy and fairies and lived her dreams during her presentation with her glittery fairy wings.

Pat’s carousel horse was a great attraction during the celebration weekend. Enrique Campos, who arranged for Lladró to loan the Carnival in Venice masterpiece to WMODA, came to the event with his daughter Clara. As you can see, she was one of the first to try the carousel horse, which will be the centerpiece of our next event All the Fun of the Fair on October 12. Artist Lloyd Goradesky will hold another of his popular smart phone photography classes and highlight photo opportunities in the museum.  

Weekend guests toured the WMODA collections with expert docent Kimberly Sheridan and shopped for hand-made Venetian glass jewelry from Italianissimo and other gifts from the newly revamped WMODA shop. Fortunately, the stock is being replenished by our supportive artists in time for our next event.

Tribute was paid to Arthur Wiener, the founder of the museum, when he visited the event on Sunday morning. During his whirlwind tour, he was introduced to all the speakers and met many of the guests who had traveled from far and wide to share the celebration. He also thanked the staff and volunteers at WMODA for all their hard work in making events such as these so successful. All in all, it was a great start to the new Florida season.