 | |
| Industry | Pottery and stoneware |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1939 |
| Founder | Mary Alice Hadley |
| Headquarters | Louisville, Kentucky |
| Website | hadleypottery |
Hadley Pottery is an American-based pottery and stoneware company started by Mary Alice Hadley and her husband George E. Hadley in 1945. [1] It is located on Story Avenue in the Butchertown neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky. [2]
Hadley Pottery had its inception in 1939, when Mary Alice Hadley made a custom set of dishware for a cruiser she and her husband George Hadley had on the Ohio River. [3] She created her own design with a nautical flag motif [4] and painted it on unfired blanks that she fired at the Louisville Pottery Co. [5] When friends saw the design of her dishes, they were interested in purchasing dishes of their own, so Hadley created a few more at the Louisville Pottery Co. [6]
With more interest and demand, the Hadleys finally purchased what became the Hadley Pottery building at 1570 Story Ave. in Louisville in October 1944 as a birthday present for Mrs. Hadley. [7] Mrs. Hadley painted all of the murals on the walls of the building [8] and the Hadley Pottery opened for business in 1945. [9] Hadley created a wide range of designs for the company, often inspired by Louisville motifs such as the fleur-de-lis. [10]
After Mary Alice Hadley died in 1965, nine painters continued to hand-paint pieces which are still signed "M.A. Hadley". [11] In 1979 Kenneth Moore bought Hadley Pottery, [11] and then in 2018 Jerry Day purchased the business and opened up a stash of over 6000 pieces which date to the period when Mary Alice Hadley was still alive. [12] In 2022, the business announced it would close, but later announced that the business would indeed stay open. [13]
Hadley Pottery was exhibited by the American Craftsmen's Educational Council in 1947, and at the Ceramic National Exhibit at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts. [14] In 1952, Mary Alice Hadley received an award from the Museum of Modern Art's Good Design program [15] and her winning design, "Brown Dot" (or "Hot Brown Fleck"), was exhibited in New York and Chicago. [16]
Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city, although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city. Louisville is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
The Speed Art Museum, originally known as the J.B. Speed Memorial Museum, now colloquially referred to as the Speed by locals, is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. It was established in 1927 in Louisville, Kentucky, on Third Street next to the University of Louisville Belknap campus. It receives around 180,000 visits annually.
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The Louisville Times was a newspaper that was published in Louisville, Kentucky. It was founded in 1884 by Walter N. Haldeman, as the afternoon counterpart to The Courier-Journal, the dominant morning newspaper in Louisville and the commonwealth of Kentucky for many years. The two newspapers published a combined edition on Sundays. Both newspapers were later owned and operated by the Bingham family, headed for much of the 20th century by patriarch Barry Bingham, Sr.
Harlan Hubbard was an American artist and writer, known for his simple lifestyle.
Stoneware & Co., which was previously known by various other names including the J. B. Taylor Company and Louisville Stoneware until sometime after its sale in July 2007, is a stoneware-producing company located in the Highlands section of Louisville, Kentucky. Founded in 1815, it is one of the oldest stoneware producers in the United States. It specializes in decorating its pottery with Kentucky Derby and Christmas themes, but it has other themes as well: Noah's Ark, Primrose, and Pear being examples. They also create personalized items. Besides pottery, they have made bird baths and bird feeders.
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Arthur Loomis was an architect who worked from 1876 through the 1920s in the Louisville, Kentucky area. After working for noted architect Charles J. Clarke for several years, they became partners in 1891, creating Clarke & Loomis, one of Louisville's most prestigious architectural firms. After Clarke's death in 1908, Loomis struck out on his own.
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Ann Stewart Anderson was an American artist from Louisville, Kentucky whose paintings "focused on the rituals of being a woman." Anderson is known for her part in creating the collective work, the "Hot Flash Fan," a fabric art work about menopause funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. She was the executive director of the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Anderson died on March 4, 2019, one day after his 84th birthday.
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