Antiques Lecture Series

Location: Executive Auditorium of the SWVA Higher Education Center

Description: As Betsy White and her team of researchers from the William King Museum of Art worked to document the decorative arts of East Tennessee in the 1980s, they discovered as the westward movement of settlers moved into the Tennessee River Valley, their tastes in artistic styles became more dramatic, bolder, and “fancier” than they had been along the Great Road in Virginia.  Examples include colorful patterns of cobalt and manganese glazes on pottery, highly patterned “ropes and tassel” inlays on furniture, and many other fanciful details.

At this illustrated lecture Katie Edwards, Curator of Fine and Decorative Arts, and Betsy K. White, the Executive Director at the William King Museum of Art, will discuss Tennessee decorative arts and artists and show examples from the current exhibit, “Tennessee Fancy:  Decorative Arts of Northeast Tennessee 1780-1940” as well as numerous examples from the museum’s research archives.