Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture Series: Margaret Carney

This year’s speaker is Margaret Carney, who will present a lecture on the legacy of Charles Fergus Binns titled “Binns@Alfred: n Degrees of Separation.” The lecture is given in support of our current exhibition “History: A Legacy in Motion - Alfred Ceramic Art 1900 - 2025.” This exhibition presents the extraordinarily diverse practices of artists who held (or continue to hold) full time teaching positions at the New York State College of Ceramics School of Art and Design since its creation by Binns in 1900. 

About the Speaker

Margaret Carney is a ceramic historian who holds a Ph.D. in Asian art history. She is founding director and curator of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, which recently opened in Kingston, New York, after being established in 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A museum professional for multiple decades, she has curated numerous exhibitions, authored many books, catalogues, and journal articles, and lectured worldwide with an emphasis on ceramic art history.

She received three Smithsonian Institution research fellowships in Washington, D.C. at the Renwick Gallery and the National Museum of American Art. She is a fellow of the American Ceramic Society and became an elected member of the International Academy of Ceramics in 1993. She was founding director of the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum in Alfred, New York from 1991-2002, where she also taught ceramic world history at the New York State College of Ceramics.

While she was director and curator of the Blair Museum of Lithophanes she wrote the first book on lithophanes, published 180 years after they were first patented in France and Germany in the 1820s. She prides herself on never writing best sellers, just esoteric tomes on ceramic history topics such as lithophanes, Flint Faience Tiles created in Flint, Michigan between 1920-1932, and Charles Fergus Binns: The Father of American Studio Ceramics.

About the Perkins Lecture

The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum established the Dorothy Wilson Perkins Ceramic History Lecture Series in 1998, thanks to a generous endowment to the Museum by Dr. Lyle Perkins in memory of his wife, Dr. Dorothy Wilson Perkins. Since then the series has brought in exceptional speakers discussing a wide range of topics relating to ceramic history, culture and contemporary practice. More information is available here.