Mark Shapiro
Craft Research Fund Grant
,
2021
Grant Recipient
New York City African-American master potter Thomas Commeraw made iconic American stoneware until he emigrated to Sierra Leone in 1820. Why did he leave his country of birth and city of business? How does his life illuminate both the creative contributions and narrowing horizons for free Blacks and Black craftspersons in the early Republic?
Selected works
Early Thomas W Commeraw One Gallon Jar, Collection Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Stamps: ongoing research on Commeraw’s techniques for making his tassel and swag and “clamshell” motifs.
Thomas W Commeraw Group: National Museum of American History.
Thomas W. Commeraw listed as singer, choir leader, and composer on program of Oration on the Abolition of the Slave Trade African Church, New York 1809.
Also Awarded...
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