DECORATIVE ARTS
Plain & Simple,
Fine & Fancy
Plain & Simple, Fine & Fancy
A Survey of Alabama Decorative Arts
Decorative Arts are creative expressions on everyday objects making them both functional and beautiful. Research continues documenting Alabama's rich Decorative Arts heritage. Today, this knowledge tells a sense of pride in and respect for our ancestors, recognizing their struggle to create a comfortable and attractive surrounding for themselves. These artifacts and their stories will ensure that this heritage will be appreciated and preserved for future generations.
The presented artifacts are a cross section of what has survived and are a sampling of what was found in the past in Alabama homes alongside imported and machine-made products. They reveal the skill and ingenuity of the artisans who made them. These artifacts were once commonplace, constantly used, and scarcely noticed. Today, their meaning comes from the history of their ownership and their function reflects the patterns of life, economic factors, and social ideals and customs of those times.
Funding provided by the Alabama State Council on the Arts & the National Endowment for the Arts.
Alabama Decorative Arts Presentations
Mt. Ida Quilt Project: One Community, Two quilts, Three Centuries
Sarah Bliss Wright
Slinging Mud: Alabama Potters and Politics in the Late 19th Century
Joey Brackner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6SeI2qwZck
A Brief History of Confederate Gunboat Quilts
Dr. Anne Forschler-Tarrasch
Seeing Double, Stereoptic Views of Alabama
Michael McEachern
Decorative Arts of the Gulf South
Sarah Duggan
The mission of Landmarks Foundation is to preserve, interpret, and present Central Alabama's history, architecture, and culture. As Montgomery's historic preservation organization, Landmarks Foundation manages Old Alabama Town for the City of Montgomery.
To receive membership information about joining Landmarks Foundation, please fill out the information below...
Landmarks Foundation
Loeb Visitors Center
301 Columbus Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
334.240.4500
Other Decorative Arts Resources
19th Century America, Furniture and other Decorative Arts, by Metropolitan Museum of Art, Exhibition in Celebration of the 100 anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970.
Alabama Folk Pottery by Joey Brackner. University of Alabama Press, 2006.
Alabama Quilts, Wilderness through World War II, 1682-1950 by Mary Elizabeth Johnson Huff and Carole King. University Press of Mississippi, 2020.
Made in Alabama, A State Legacy by Birmingham Museum of Art, 1996.
Neat Pieces by Deanne Levinson/Atlanta History Center, 2006.