Digest

American Folk Art: Revisiting the Collection of Abby Aldrich Rockefeller at MoMA

Rockefeller's collection of 19th-century artworks features objects both functional and visually expressive, from painted portraits and stenciled still lifes to weathervanes and wooden toys. Produced by professional artists and craftspeople, students, and self-taught makers from across the nation’s Northeast, these works share roots in preindustrial workmanship, regional tradition, and community and will be presented in dialogue with selected paintings and sculptures in MoMA’s collection by modern artists who were inspired by or championed American folk art

Get Your Tickets for Supernature 7 Farm-Dinner-Disco-Camping Party at World's End Farm July 24th-26th

Bring your camping gear, bring your appetite for some of the best farm food you’ve ever eaten, bring your friends, bring your kids, bring your optimism for a better future and of course bring your dancing shoes. Two nights of camping/music/food - stay the whole weekend! Proceeds from ticket sales go directly to supporting our mission: practicing world-building and teaching small scale agriculture and craft practices.

Perhaps more than any other art form, pottery is of a place - living alongside us in our most intimate and personal spaces, intended for everyday use, made from the earth itself. Frances Palmer, polymath ceramicist (a printmaker and art historian by training, she’s a photographer, expert gardener, and floral designer as well), takes this a step further and creates a fresh collection for each collaboration. For her show at London’s Garden Museum, she was very much inspired by Delft spouted vases and Wedgwood pedestal pieces, mostly in white creamware, a clay body invented by the great 18th century potters in Staffordshire. For a late summer show at the Berkshire Botanical Garden, she created pieces with terracotta clay, which she found sympathetic to the garden aesthetic and echoed in the goldenrod meadow just outside the gallery windows.

In a week, she’ll come to the shop with a collection made just for us: “The work I am currently throwing for Pidgin references the history of English marbleized pieces. When I am in London, I spend a lot of time at the Victoria and Albert Museum studying the ceramic collections. The 18th and 19th century everyday marbleized pieces are a great jumping off point for the work I will be bringing.” 

Frances’s work is always deeply informed by the history of art. “It’s at the root of the three processes of ceramics, gardening and photography that I explore,” she explains, and we can see this in her two sumptuous books, Life in the Studio and Life with Flowers. “I choose the flowers that I grow through looking at paintings and gardens and continually study new approaches. Likewise with photography, I am looking at photographers that I admire to consider the composition I am trying to document.  Last year I spent time working on platinum palladium prints, which is an early printing technique from 1874. That was a lot of fun, and I would love to get back to producing more images. I think a lot about light and dark in the frame.” 

On Saturday, June 27th at Pidgin, all three creative pursuits will come together: besides offering the new pottery collection, Frances will be signing both of her books, and the shop will be filled with the scent of high summer flowers from Saipua’s Sarah Ryhanen, gathered into arrangements by Frances, and also available for purchase.

JOIN US for a celebration of new work by Frances Palmer for PIDGIN on June 27th from 3-6. Have a drink, a bite, meet old friends, and new. And shop. RSVP not required, but much appreciated.

Lush, green, and deeply alive - June in the Helderbergs is a most special time. We hope you'll join us for the opening reception for Frances Palmer X PIDGIN, Saturday, June 27th from 3-6, showcasing special work for us by one of our favorite ceramicists. Why not make a day of it? Here are some favorite spots we recommend.

Morning

Stop for brunch from 10-2 at Kuhar Family Farm Cafe, where Rochelle and Micah serve hearty, rustic delicious meals made with meat and produce from their own farm.

Mid-Day

Hike the Huyck Preserve, a donation-funded non-profit historic nature preserve in Renssalaerville. Our favorite rambles are the Lower Falls Trail and Lincoln Pond Trail.

Continue your walk down Main Street for a visit to the Tudor Revival Rensselaerville Library, first started in 1798 and moved in 1896 to the row house where it is today, the former boot shop of William Felter. 

Get lost in the magical gardens, arboretum, and greenhouses and shop for garden stalwarts and rarities at Pidgin customer favorite Greene Bee Nursery.

Evening

Claim an outdoor table and order a farm-grown wood-fired pizza from our friends at Be Golden. Their wine list is brief but excellent.

Secure a spot at Casa Susanna, James Beard nominee Chef Efrén Hernández's take on Mexican cuisine by way of the Hudson Valley, and don't miss the in-house nixtamalized handmade masa tortillas.

Make a reservation for seasonal classic American cuisine with a Scandinavian twist at the small and very special Julia’s Local.

As you read this, a special collection of singular marbleized platters and vessels is going into the kiln, made just for this moment — for Pidgin and for you. Each piece carries the quiet evidence of a human hand.

We’d love for you to join us on Saturday, June 27th from 3–6pm to meet ceramicist and florist Frances Palmer, signing her new book Life with Flowers. Have a drink, a bite, meet old friends, and new. And shop.

At Pidgin, in Oak Hill, New York.