Paul Cushman

Book excerpt: The life, time, and work of a renowned Albany potter comes vividly to life in these pages. Paul Cushman (1767-1833) is recognized today as one of the founders of a regional stoneware industry that stretched throughout the Upper Hudson Valley of New York State. When Cushman moved to Albany around 1800, local stoneware production was limited to a few potters. His decision to open a pottery works "half a mile west of the Albany Goal" at the beginning of the new century resulted in a long-lived and successful business. It also initiated a century of tremendous growth and expansion in regional stoneware manufacturing. The expert contributors to this volume reveal all that is currently known about the life and work of Paul Cushman, and place his business and pottery within broad and useful historical and aesthetic frameworks.