University College, 15 King's College Circle
University of Toronto, Room 140
(Museum Station or bus Route 94 Wellesley-Harbord)

Rachel Gotlieb will discuss English potter and tile designer William de Morgan within the wider context of whether the Arts and Crafts Movement is a modern or an anti-modern movement and why this question is important to craft and design history. 

In addition to examining de Morgan’s practice, she will look at contemporary potters and ceramic artists who carry on the tradition of romanticizing the pastoral Arts and Crafts movement. 

The presentation will include remarks from Allan Gotlieb about his collection of William de Morgan tiles.

Rachel Gotlieb is the Associate Curator at the Gardiner Museum. She received her M.A. in Design History at the Royal College of Art & The Victoria and Albert Museum. Her thesis topic investigated “The Aesthetic Criteria and Vocabulary of British Studio Potters and Art Manufacturers 1914-1930”. She also completed a Sotheby’s short course in European Decorative Arts. She is a PhD candidate in Art History at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. 

Rachel served as the founding Curator of the Design Exchange between 1990–2002 and cowrote Design in Canada (Knopf Canada, 2001). She has curated and co-curated several important exhibitions, including: Pop: Design from the Space Age (Design Exchange 1994); Thor Hansen: Crafting a Canadian Style (Textile Museum of Canada, 2005), On the Table: 100 Years of Functional Ceramics (Gardiner Museum, 2007), and Beaver Tales: Canadian Art and Design (University of Toronto Art Centre, 2008). 

She has taught design history at Ryerson University School of Fashion, OCAD and Sheridan College. She created and implemented the Studio North and Prototype exhibits for Canadian artisans at the Toronto Interior Design Show, and also conceived and directed its Conversations in Design annual symposium. She currently serves on OCAD U’s On Site Gallery Advisory Board and on the Professional Advisory Committee for Art and Art History Sheridan / University of Toronto, Mississauga. She has also served on the board of the Ontario Crafts Council (2006-8), and the City of Toronto Public Art Commission (1994-7).