Art within Reach

Shales’ new book, “Pitchers of American Life: Art Within Reach” (Bloomsbury 2026), discusses vessels preserved from ancient Indigenous American cultures, those caught in the spiderwebs of antique shops, and common tools used for drinks lurking in modern kitchens. Might a history of art extracted from the cupboard liberate us from usual cultural hierarchies of the Grand Tour—and make the idea of art more accessible and relevant? The presentation will include ‘show-and-touch’ engagement with a selection from mass-produced goods. How does a design once on display at the London Crystal Palace in 1851 compare to one from our Plasticene era?

Ezra Shales, Ph.D., teaches in the art history department at Massachusetts College of Art and Design and is the author of “The Shape of Craft” (2017) and “Made in Newark: Cultivating Industrial Arts and Civic Identity in the Progressive Era” (2010). He has contributed to museum exhibition catalogs for artists such as Polly Apfelbaum and Edith Heath, and published in the “Journal of Modern Craft” and the “Journal of Design History.” His doctoral dissertation focused on the Progressive Era provocations of Vermont-born librarian and museum founder John Cotton Dana, whose commitment to quotidian beauties he still finds both inspiring and rewarding.

Lecture followed by audience Q&A. Free to Members or with Museum admission.