STORIES FROM A COLLECTION

PRESENTED BY MANITOGA / THE RUSSEL WRIGHT DESIGN CENTER & STUDIO TASHTEGO

8 JUNE - 4 AUGUST, 2024
STUDIO TASHTEGO
COLD SPRING, NEW YORK
WED-SUN, 10am - 6pm

Stories from a Collection is a collaboration between Manitoga / The Russel Wright Design Center and Studio Tashtego, featuring objects designed or collected by American industrial designers Russel Wright (1904-1976) and Mary Einstein Wright (1904-1952). At mid-century, the Wrights brought modernism to millions of Americans through their affordable and popular designs for the home and their advocacy that “good design is for everyone.” 

The breadth of media they worked in was as diverse as their scope - fine arts, dinnerware, lifestyle, and landscape. This exhibition adds to our understanding of their collaborative practice and to Russel Wright’s prolific career – his designer’s eye was called upon by the U.S State Department in 1955 to lead a team studying craft production in Formosa [Taiwan], Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Works on view include rarely seen items from these travels across Asia, once displayed in the family home, Dragon Rock at Manitoga, and now promised gifts on loan from his life partner, Joseph Chapman.

Studio Tashtego and the Design Center share a medium-crossing curiosity and dedication to craft that mirror Russel Wright’s own.

Installation photos by Joseph Kramm. Object photos by Jeff Mickelson. Courtesy of Studio Tashtego.
All collection items are gifts and promised gifts to Manitoga / The Russel Wright Design Center.
Left to Right: 1. Installation view; 2. Teapot (likely from South East Asia); 3. Teapot, Ceramic vase (maker unknown), and Bauer Art Pottery #19A Bulb Bowl in Georgia Brown and Raymor Turquoise by Russel Wright; 4 + 5. Wooden Temple Tower; 6. Bowls (likely Japanese), Theme Formal Opalescent Glasses and Bauer Pottery #17A Long Bowl in Aqua and Bronze by Russel Wright; 7. Basket (likely from South East Asia); 8. Sovereign dinnerware line by Russel and Mary Wright; 9. Bauer Pottery #12A Square Vases in Georgia Brown, #22 Square Ashtray in Gun Metal and White, #2A Vase in Atlanta Brick, Footed Bowl (unidentified maker), #12A Square Vases in Georgia Brown, Wooden Bowls (unidentified maker) and #3A Corsage Vase in White by Russel Wright.
10. Installation view of basketry

ABOUT STUDIO TASHTEGO

Founded in 2019, Studio Tashtego is a contemporary art and design gallery specializing in ceramics, glass, furniture, lighting, textile and sculpture. The gallery is located in the historic village of Cold Spring in New York's Hudson Valley region. 

Owner and Director Julia Caldwell specializes in curating the work of artists who are bringing form, texture, and material together in uniquely sculptural and elegant pieces. The curatorial focus seeks to illuminate artists that create surprising yet compositionally balanced artworks that are informed by time-honored aesthetic traditions. The gallery's roster of artists consists of both emerging and established talent, linked by their commitment to creating new and vibrant modes of expression within their medium. 

CONTACT
Studio Tashtego
158 Main Street
Cold Spring, NY 10516
Email: studio@studiotashtego.com
Phone: 917.794.4643