-Owl c. 1880

James H. Bowen crafted this earthenware owl sometime between 1893 and 1906. Bowen was associated with the Newcomb Pottery, an enterprise tied to the Newcomb College, which was the women’s college of Tulane University in New Orleans. Newcomb Pottery was a fascinating experiment in combining art education with a business that would give young women economic independence. The pottery, like many Arts and Crafts enterprises of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, also wanted to make aesthetically pleasing, handmade objects available in a market increasingly dominated by cheap, mass-produced goods. This owl sits squarely within these aspirations. Bowen was charged with creating plaster molds from which students would then make multiples. Owls have long been associated with wisdom, but here the animal seems to be domesticated for the Arts and Crafts market. To understand this further, we can look to college archives, business records, and the aesthetic debates of the period. The owl is, therefore, a reminder that art is always entwined with broader social and institutional histories.