WILLIAMSBURG, VA. — Colonial Williamsburg will present “Declaring Independence: American Ceramics in the Making,” comprising three days of hands-on workshops, potting demonstrations and lectures September 18–20.

Alligator by Billy Ray Hussey (Robbins, N.C.), 2007, salt-glazed stoneware, gift of Billy Ray Hussey.

With particular emphasis on the Eighteenth–Nineteenth Centuries, this conference will explore the vast array of ceramics made in America and will investigate the themes of influence, imitation and innovation. Additional attention will be paid to the lasting impact of how these periods shaped the making of ceramics in America during the Twentieth Century and beyond.

The conferences kicks off Friday, September 18, with several optional programs (space is limited) taking place in the Bruton Heights Collections and Conservation Building, 309 First Street. Classes are available to conference registrants only for $50 per person.

The slate of programs includes 10 to 11:30 am and 2 to 3:30 pm “Domestic Dishes”; 10 to 11:30 am and 2 to 3:30 pm with a ceramic conservation clinic. Suzanne Findlen Hood, curator, ceramics and glass, Colonial Williamsburg, will present the opening remarks in “Collecting American Made,” at 5:30 pm in the Hennage Auditorium, the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. An opening reception follows from 6:30 to 7:30 pm, in the museum’s central court. Tickets for guests of registrants can be purchased for $50 per person. The fee includes the opening lecture and the reception.

Pottery storage jar by James Morgan Sr, Cheesequake, N.J., circa 1780, salt-glazed stoneware, museum purchase.

Saturday’s schedule includes:

8:30 am, The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg open for conference registrants, 326 West Francis Street;

9 am,   “Pots of Our Ordinary Earth: One Hundred Years of Virginia Earthenware from the Powhatan to the ‘Poor Potter’ of Yorktown,” presented by Beverly A. (Bly) Straube, PhD, FSA, research associate, James River Institute for Archaeology, Williamsburg, Va.;

9:45 am, “William Rogers the ‘Poor Potter’: Evidence of Yorktown Pottery in Williamsburg,” a talk by Kelly Ladd-Kostro, associate curator, archaeological collections, Colonial Williamsburg;

10:15 am, “The Potters Speak: Norwalk, Connecticut, Slip-Script Pottery and Related Wares,” by Richard Miller, curator and author, Plainfield, N.H.;

11:30 am, “Fifty Years of Collecting Southern Ceramics: MESDA and the Mariner Collection,” given by Robert Leath, vice president, collections and research, and chief curator, The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts at Old Salem, Winston-Salem, N.C.;

2 pm,   “The Cherokee Clay and Tales of Alchemy, Magic and Mystery” by Robert R. Hunter Jr, editor, Ceramics in America, Williamsburg; and

3:15 to 4:45 pm, “Made in America: Baskets, Pickles and Barley Corn” by Michelle Erickson, ceramic artist, Hampton, Va.

Sunday’s lecture schedule features:

9 am, “ ‘A good Assortment of Tortoise…Earthen Ware’: The Benjamin Leigh and John Allman Partnership in Boston” by Angelika Kuettner, associate registrar for imaging and assistant curator of ceramics, Colonial Williamsburg,

9:30 am, “Re-examining the Eighteenth Century Potters of Charlestown, Massachusetts: An Archaeological Perspective” by Joe Bagley, city archaeologist, Boston Landmarks Commission, Boston, Mass.,

10:45 am, “ ‘…Much improved in fashion, neatness and utility”: The Development of the Philadelphia Ceramic Industry, 1700–1810” by Deborah Miller, archaeologist and materials specialist, AECOM, Burlington, N.J.,

11:30 am, “The Cortselius/Crolius Family in North America: From German Master Craftsmen to American Entrepreneurs in Four Generations” by Meta Janowitz, archaeologist and senior materials specialist, AECOM, Burlington, N.J.,

2 pm, “Influences on the Pottery of the ‘Old Southwest’ — An Alabama Perspective” by Joey Brackner, director, Alabama Center for Traditional Culture, Alabama State Council on the Arts, Montgomery,

3:15 to 4:45 pm, “The Southern South: Pottery Traditions Explored and Demonstrated” by Billy Ray Hussey, southern folk artist, Bennett, N.C.

Registration is $295 per person. Registration is $295 per person. For further information or registration, 800-603-0948 or www.history.org/conted.