Newcomb pottery intersects with New Orleans jazz

The story of Newcomb pottery — made at Newcomb College between 1895 and 1940 — is reaching new audiences with the Newcomb Art Museum's traveling exhibit, “The Most Natural Expression of Locality: Jazz, Newcomb Pottery and the Creative Impulse in Turn-of-the-Century New Orleans.”

Making its debut at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the eight-panel display examines the parallel evolution of jazz and Newcomb pottery in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as the influence of New Orleans’ cultural and physical landscape on both art forms.

Historical photographs and images of pottery are paired with period lyrics, underscoring the shared aesthetic foundation of these otherwise distinct creative expressions.

The exhibition is curated and designed by museum deputy director Teresa Parker Farris and is on view in the festival's Grandstand.

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