Edith Heath
{{Infobox artist
| name = Edith Heath
| image = Photo of Edith Heath.jpg
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| birth_name = Edith Kiertzner
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1911|05|24}}
| birth_place = Ida Grove, Iowa
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2005|12|27|1911|05|24}}
| death_place = Tiburon, California
| nationality = American
| movement = Bauhaus
| awards =
| patrons =
| field = Ceramic art
| training = Chicago Teachers College
| works =
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Edith Kiertzner Heath (May 24, 1911 – December 27, 2005){{cite book|last=Klausner|first=Amos|title=Heath Ceramics, The Complexity of Simplicity|year=2006|publisher=Chronicle Books, LLC|location=San Francisco|isbn=0-8118-5560-0|pages=20}}{{cite book |last1=Falino |first1=Jeannine |title=Crafting modernism: midcentury American art and design: [exhibition Crafting modernism. Midcentury American art and design, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, October 11, 2011 - January 15, 2012; Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, February 27 - May 21, 2012] |date=2011 |publisher=Abrams |location=New York |isbn=978-0810984806 |pages=285}} was an American studio potter and founder of Heath Ceramics. The company, well known for its mid-century modern ceramic tableware, including "Heathware," and architectural tiles, is still operating in Sausalito, California, after being founded in 1948.{{cite news
| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/01/BAGDCGG18T1.DTL
| title=Edith Heath -- renowned ceramicist
| publisher=San Francisco Chronicle
| date=2006-01-01
| author=Marsha Ginsburg
| accessdate=2006-09-14}}
Life and education
File:Heath ceramics covered jar.jpgKiertzner was born on May 24, 1911, in Ida Grove, Iowa, forty miles east of Sioux City, Iowa, to Danish immigrants Niels and Karoline Kiertzner. In 1931, Kiertzner enrolled at the Chicago Normal School, later renamed Chicago Teachers College, and graduated in 1934. She enrolled part-time at the Art Institute of Chicago after graduation taking her first ceramic course. She also took classes from László Moholy-Nagy at his Chicago School of Design. In 1938, Edith married Brian Heath.
Developing ceramics
Relocating to San Francisco, Edith accepted a position as an art teacher at the Presidio Hill School and audited classes at the California School of Fine Arts. She developed a clay body in these classes which she adapted many times for her production work. Not being able to have as much access to the pottery equipment as she wished, Edith pursued her ceramic interests on her own converting a treadle sewing machine into a pottery wheel.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}}
In 1943, she studied eutectics, the science of mixing various metals with clay to create specific properties, with Willard Kahn through the University of California extension courses.{{cite book|title=The Potter's Art in California 1885-1955|last=Bray|first=Hazel V.|publisher=The Oakland Museum Art Department|year=1980|isbn=0-295-96200-3|location=Oakland, CA|pages=62}} She experimented with mixing various metals into the clay mixture to achieve different properties. She used native clay, experimenting with various California clays before settling on clay from the Sierra mountains because this was able to withstand very high heat.{{cite news |last1=Kane |first1=Peter-Astrid |title='She was an alchemist': Edith Heath, the rebel ceramicist who defined postwar California modernism: A retrospective of the ground breaking artist's work celebrates her love of cermaic chemistry and material exploration |work=The Guardian |date=February 1, 2022}} Heath's continued experimentation led to her becoming an expert in how different clay types affected aesthetic qualities of her wares. She also developed custom glazes, including the speckle glaze that was innovative at the time.
In 1944, her first major show was at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor. She also participated in the Syracuse Ceramic Nationals.{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Paul|title=Art Pottery of the United States : An Encyclopedia of Producers and Their Marks, Together With a Directory of Studio Potters Working in the United States Through 1960|year=1990|publisher=Feingold & Lewis Pub. Corp.|location=New York|isbn=0-9619577-0-0|pages=420}}
Heath ceramics
A buyer from San Francisco retailer Gumps approached Edith to supply their store with her high quality hand-thrown pottery using the company's pottery studio. She accepted the opportunity, while continuing to work in her own studio.{{Cite web|url=http://exhibits.ced.berkeley.edu/items/show/1322|title=Proposed Heath Ceramics factory · Environmental Design Archives Exhibitions|website=exhibits.ced.berkeley.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2017-06-30}} Major retailers began to order tableware, which required Heath to develop ways to manufacture her pieces from her design rather than create them by hand. In 1948, she opened Heath Ceramics in Sausalito, California. By 1949, Heath was producing 100,000 pieces a year.
Heath Ceramics was purchased by Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey in 2003.{{cite web |url=http://www.heathceramics.com/aboutheath.php |title=HeathCeramics.com: About Heath |accessdate=2006-09-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827082404/http://www.heathceramics.com/aboutheath.php |archivedate=2006-08-27 }} Edith Heath died on December 27, 2005, at her home in Tiburon, California.
=Tableware=
Edith Heath's "Coupe" line remains in demand and has been in constant production since 1948, with periodic changes to the texture and color of the glazes. Other Heath pottery lines include "Rim," designed in 1960, and "Plaza," designed in the 1980s.{{cite news
| url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/02/01/CMGH94KDCV3.DTL
| title=Home Is Where the Heath Is: A Bay Area pottery tradition continues under new ownership
| publisher=San Francisco Chronicle
| date=2004-02-01
| author=Zahid Sardar
| accessdate=2006-09-14}}
"Rim", as its name implies, had an unglazed outer rim. It was favored by restaurants because the rim made the pieces easy to carry and the pieces stacked securely.{{cite journal |last1=Seckler |first1=Judy |title=Edith Heath, Thoroughly Modern |journal=Ceramics: Art and Perspective |date=2010 |issue=79 |pages=71–73}}
=Architectural tile=
File:Norton Simon museum-3.jpg
The Pasadena Art Museum, now the Norton Simon Museum, in Pasadena, California, and designed by Pasadena architects Thornton Ladd and John Kelsey of the firm 'Ladd + Kelsey' used Heath architectural tiles. The distinctive and modern curvilinear exterior facade is faced in 115,000 glazed tiles, in varying brown tones with an undulating surface, made by Edith Heath.{{cite book | last = Chang | first = Jade | title = Art/Shop/Eat Los Angeles | publisher = Somerset Books | year = 2005 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/artshopeatlosang0000chan/page/90 90–98] | isbn = 1-905131-06-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/artshopeatlosang0000chan/page/90 }} They are part of the backdrop many see when viewing the New Year's Rose Parade. Heath was awarded the American Institute of Architects Industrial Arts Medal for this work. It was the first time the medal had been given to a non-architect.{{cite web |title=Pasadena Art Museum |url=https://laddandkelsey.org/pasadena-art-museum-2/ |publisher=Pasadena Art Museum |access-date=21 February 2022}} She also collaborated with architects Eero Saarinen, Alexander Girard, Kevin Roche, and William Pereira.
=Other=
Exhibits and media
- In 2019 the public television station KCET produced a biographical documentary about Edith Heath's life and work, entitled Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic.{{cite web |URL=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10509934/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1 |title=Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic (2019) |publisher=IMDb (2019) |date=2019 |accessdate=November 11, 2020}} The film was directed by Chris Metzler and Quinn Costello, and explored the history and influence of Edith Heath, including her continuing legacy at Heath Ceramics today.{{cite web |URL=https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/episodes/heath-ceramics-the-making-of-a-california-classic |title=Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic, Artbound Season 10, Episode 2 |publisher=KCET (2019) |date=2019 |accessdate=November 12, 2020}} The film was honored by the LA Press Club at the 2019 National Arts and Entertainment Awards where the film won first-place recognition in the Documentary or Special Program Feature (over 30 minutes) category.{{cite web |title=National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, 2019 Winners |url=https://lapressclub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NAEJ-WINNERS-11232019-2045.pdf |website=Los Angeles Press Club |publisher=LA Press Club |access-date=21 February 2022}}
- Edith Heath: Tabletop Modernist, Pasadena Museum of California Art, May 31-September 20, 2009
- Edith Heath: A Life in Clay, Oakland Museum of California, January 29, 2022 – October 30, 2022{{cite web |title=Edith Heath: A Life in Clay |url=https://museumca.org/exhibit/edith-heath-life-clay |publisher=Oakland Museum of California |access-date=21 February 2022}}
Awards
- AIA Industrial Arts Medal award from the American Institute of Architects, 1971{{cite web |last1=Durant |first1=Jessie |last2=Vigor |first2=Emily |title=Edith Heath, a Handful of Clay |url=https://exhibits.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/edithheath |website=Exhibition Archives |publisher=UC Berkeley Environmental Design |access-date=21 February 2022}}
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Klausner, Amos. Heath Ceramics, The Complexity of Simplicity. Chronicle Books LLC, San Francisco (2006) {{ISBN|0-8118-5560-0}}
External links
- [http://heathceramics.com/ Heath Ceramics]
- [https://archives.ced.berkeley.edu/collections/heath-brian-edith The Edith and Brian Heath Archives] at the University of California, Berkeley School of Environmental Design
- [https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/episodes/heath-ceramics-the-making-of-a-california-classic KCET.org video: Heath Ceramics - The Making of a California Classic]
- KCET.org article: [https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/edith-heath-a-rebellion-in-clay Edith Heath: A Rebellion in Clay]
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Category:American industrial designers
Category:American women potters
Category:California people in design
Category:Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:People from Tiburon, California
Category:People from Sausalito, California
Category:Modernist architecture in California
Category:Ceramics manufacturers of the United States
Category:20th-century American artists
Category:20th-century American ceramists
Category:20th-century American women artists