A pottery exhibit featuring pieces created by the renowned ceramic sculptor and a leading figure in 20th century American ceramics, Waylande Gregory, is on display through August 31 at The Art Space at Somerset County Library System of New Jersey’s Warren Township Library branch, located at 42 Mountain Blvd. in Warren Township. The collection is on display at the Library thanks to local collectors and coowners, Russell Lambariello and Lisa Eagan. The items in the exhibit, after having spent many years stored in a basement, were purchased in 2009 at an estate sale 19 years after the death of Waylande Gregory’s wife, Yolande.
The exhibit includes 29 examples of Gregory’s work, highlighting the diversified creations by the artist during the 1960s. This includes unique lamp bases, colorful plates, a stylized peacock, and a covered box clearly displaying Gregory’s unique signature on the lid.
Waylande Gregory, who lived and worked in Warren Township from 1939 until his death in 1971, created a large and diversified body of work. His largest and most famous piece, the monumental ceramic sculpture “Fountain of the Atom,” was commissioned for the 1939 World’s Fair. Early in his career, Gregory was the chief designer and lead sculptor at Cowan Pottery in Ohio. In the 1940s, he produced limited edition decorative wares that were sold in exclusive stores. He established a studio and built a huge kiln at his residence on Mountain Trail, drawn to this isolated mountain top location because of the local clay. According to Lisa Eagan, co-owner of the pieces on exhibit at SCLSNJ’s Warren Township Library branch, Gregory made the tile flooring throughout his home using locally sourced clay.
Artists interested in exhibiting work in the Art Space at SCLSNJ’s Warren Township Library branch, either in the small, glass-enclosed display case or on the gallery wall, should contact Kathy DeCristofaro at kdecrist@sclibnj.org
(above) Waylande Gregory
