Nancy Sweezy

Nancy Sweezy (October 14, 1921 – February 6, 2010)[1] was an American artist, author, folklorist, advocate, scholar, and preservationist. Known initially for her work as a potter in the 1950s, Sweezy became a scholar of the history and creation of pottery and wrote several authoritative texts and books on U.S. and international folk pottery. She was a major figure in the establishment of markets for folk and traditional crafts. Other major accomplishments in her extensive career included the founding of the crafts organization Country Roads, the revival of North Carolina's historic Jugtown Pottery, and the creation of the Refugee Arts Group in Massachusetts for immigrant folk artists. Her advocacy work also included developing apprenticeship programs. She also was involved with Club 47, a famous performing scene in the American folk music revival.[1]

Nancy Sweezy
color photograph of potter and folklorist Nancy Sweezy taken in 2007
Sweezy in 2007
Born
Nancy Thompson

(1921-10-14)October 14, 1921
Flushing, Queens, New York, U.S.
DiedFebruary 6, 2010(2010-02-06) (aged 88)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
EducationSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Known forPotter, folklorist, author, owner of Jugtown Pottery (1968–1980)
SpousePaul Sweezy (div. 1960)
AwardsNational Heritage Fellowship
2006

In 2006, she was awarded the Bess Lomax Hawes Award and a National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.[2] She was the author of several books including Raised in Clay and Armenian Folk Arts, Culture and Identity. Her professional archive of 32,992 items collected over the course of her career as a folklorist, folk arts advocate, and non-profit organization administrator is held by the Archive of Folk Culture at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.[3]

Personal life

Nancy Thompson was born in Flushing, Queens, New York in 1921. After her parents divorced, she was adopted by another family and was known as Nancy Adams. She attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.[1] During World War II, she worked in the research branch of the Office of Strategic Services,[1] the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency.[4]

She was married briefly to Bill House. She met her future second husband, the economist Paul Sweezy, in Germany.[1] They divorced in 1960.[4]

She died of congestive heart failure in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 6, 2010.[1] She had three children: Samuel, Martha, and Lybess. At the time of her death, she had five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.[4]

Published works
  • "Tradition in Clay: Piedmont Pottery" (1975, journal article)[5]
  • Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition (1984)[6]
  • Southeast Asian Folk Art Festival (1989)[7]
  • Raised in Clay: A Guide to the Potteries and Traditions of Seagrove, North Carolina (2000)[8]
  • Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity (2001)[9]
  • The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery (2005, North Carolina Museum of Art exhibition catalog)[10]

References
  1. Martin, Douglas (February 25, 2010). "Nancy Sweezy, Savior of Jugtown Pottery, Dies at 88". The New York Times. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  2. "Nancy Sweezy: Folklorist". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. n.d. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  3. "Nancy Sweezy collection". Library of Congress. 2017. LCCN 2017-655202. OCLC 1143795005. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  4. Weigl, Andrea (February 11, 2010). "Sweezy, 88, revived Jugtown". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. Archived from the original on January 29, 2013. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  5. Sweezy, Nancy (October–December 1975). "Tradition in Clay: Piedmont Pottery". Historic Preservation. Washington, D.C.: National Trust for Historic Preservation. 27 (4): 20–23. ISSN 0018-2419.
  6. Sweezy, Nancy (1984). Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. ISBN 9780874748604. LCCN 84-600048. OCLC 10606039.
  7. Sweezy, Nancy; Magruder, Sarah; Asai, Susan (1989). Southeast Asian Folk Art Festival: Resource Materials on Southeast Asia, the Traditional Arts, and the Participating Folk Artists. Allston, Massachusetts: Refugee Arts Group. OCLC 23822965.
  8. Sweezy, Nancy (2000). Raised in Clay: A Guide to the Potteries and Traditions of Seagrove, North Carolina. Asheboro, North Carolina: Randolph County Tourist Development. OCLC 45566287.
  9. Abrahamian, Levon; Sweezy, Nancy, eds. (2001). Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 9780253337047. LCCN 00-63246. OCLC 44860852.
  10. Hewitt, Mark; Sweezy, Nancy (2005). The Potter's Eye: Art and Tradition in North Carolina Pottery. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807829929. LCCN 2005-10246. OCLC 59224001.
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