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Vermont museum hears pottery presentation from area historian

Vince Martonis displays 16 rare examples of Western New York redware.

Historian Vince Martonis was recently the keynote speaker at the Bennington Museum in Vermont. His PowerPoint program was a detailed assemblage of 173 images related to the 15 major, early 1800s redware potteries in Western New York.

The museum has an advanced collection of New England stoneware and redware manufactured in the 1800s. Twice a year, pottery experts are invited to present programs related to their particular stoneware or redware collections or interests.

Members from the Stoneware (and redware) Collectors Group get together for a two-day event which involves programs, displays, and a show and sale. They come from multiple states in the northeast as well as others, and some are published authors, educators, historians, and archaeologists

Martonis, a redware collector and researcher since the late 1970s, as well as an SCG member, chose a broad approach to use to educate the members about the incredible range of glaze colors and forms of Western New York redware produced from 1814 through the 1870s. Many images related to specimens in his collection, but multiple other examples were photographed by Martonis in area museums, historical societies, private collections, and even the New York State Museum.

The last three potteries he showed were from Chautauqua County: the Fenton & Whittemore pottery (1814-1840) in Jamestown and Fluvanna, the Haven & Kenyon pottery (1818-1828) in Sheridan, and the Mathews pottery (1821-1860) in Gerry. To complement the program, Martonis brought 16 pieces of Western New York redware to put on display, four of them coming from the three county potteries.

Executive Bennington Museum Director Martin Mahoney welcomes attendees and introduces Vince Martonis, where he discusses pottery discovered in Chautauqua County.

Books Martonis recently published on the Haven & Kenyon pottery and the Mathews pottery were available for purchase at the end of the program. Attendees gathered for a discussion-filled dinner afterwards at one of the fine Bennington restaurants.

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