Our Crowdfunding Groups
Join us on May 25, 2021, at 3 pm for an interactive panel with Edith Heath: Philosophies contributors to celebrate the book's release and Edith’s 110th birthday.
Authors will individually reflect on their inspirations, discoveries, and processes behind their essays in multimedia presentations before coming together as a group for a broader discussion of material culture, design and architecture, and the lasting impact of Edith Heath. The event will close with a live Q&A session, book raffle, and celebratory toast!
Panel participants include:
Allan Collier, Mara Holt Skov, Drew Heath Johnson, Waverly Lowell, Chris Marino, Julie Muniz, Rosa Novak, Ezra Shales, Jay Stewart, Brian Trimble, Emily Vigor, Jennifer M. Volland, and a tour of the original Heath Factory in Sausalito by owners Cathy Bailey and Robin Petravic. Moderated by Emma Walter (Information Office).
THURSDAY, 11/19/20 1:00PM – 2:00PM VIMEO LIVESTREAM (link to join): https://vimeo.com/466374355
Join book editors Jennifer M. Volland and Chris Marino, designer Derek Barnett of Information Office, Heath Foundation Trustee Jay Stewart, and author and researcher Rosa Novak for a discussion centered around the making of the forthcoming Environmental Design Archives publication Edith Heath: Philosophies (Berkeley Design Books and Information Office, November 2020).
About Edith Heath: Philosophies: Featuring 18 essays over 320 pages with more than 300 images from the Brian and Edith Heath/Heath Ceramics Collection held by the Environmental Design Archives, the book explores the philosophical foundations and influences of one of the most significant creative forces in post-WWII America. Click here for more information on the book.
Panelist Bios:
Derek Barnett is the Principal of Information Office, an art book publisher and design practice based in Vancouver, Canada, established in 2006. As a designer, publisher, and editor, Derek leads an approach based on an emphasis between curation and design.
Chris Marino is the Curator of the Environmental Design Archives at the University of California, Berkeley and Berkeley Design Books Editor, directing a full archival program for architecture, landscape architecture, and planning collections. Previously, she served as Reference and Outreach Archivist at the EDA, and as a Project Archivist at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Architecture & Design Collection at the Art, Design & Architecture Museum. Marino received her Master of Library and Information Science with an Archival Studies specialization from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Arts in Ethnic Studies from the University of California, San Diego.
Rosa Novak is a researcher for the Brian and Edith Heath Foundation and co-founder of the Oakland, California artist collective, Mutual Stores. She recently authored three essays and co-authored two visual histories for the upcoming publication, Edith Heath: Philosophies, the first in the Environmental Design Archives’ newly re-introduced Berkeley Design Books series. Novak’s current research interests focus on the life and work of Edith Heath, the history of the ceramic materials of California, and the relationship between waste material and constructive material.
Jay Stewart is the Trustee of the Brian and Edith Heath Foundation. She knew the Heaths from the time of her birth to their deaths; at their request, she assisted with their personal affairs in their later years. Since Edith Heath’s death in 2005, Stewart has devolved the Heaths’ estate, placing their extensive archives at the Environmental Design Archives at the University of California, Berkeley and assembling a study collection of Heath Ceramics’ products. With her husband, Peter Macnair, Stewart is a peripatetic curator, consulting on the material culture and ethnology of First Nations of the Northwest Coast.
Jennifer M. Volland is an independent curator and writer based in Southern California. Since 2014, she has been researching the life of ceramicist Edith Heath; in addition to her editorial role on Edith Heath: Philosophies, she served as the consulting producer on the award-winning documentary Heath Ceramics: The Making of a California Classic (KCET Artbound, 2019) and is the consulting curator on Edith Heath: A Life in Clay (Oakland Museum of California, 2021). Her past projects include Cabin Fever (Vancouver Art Gallery, 2018), Frank Bros.: The Store That Modernized Modern (University Art Museum at CSULB, 2017), and Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life (Vancouver Art Gallery, 2013). She received her Master of Arts in Architecture from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Exactly a year ago this week, the Environmental Design Archives successfully exceeded our fundraising goal that enabled Edith Heath: Philosophies, the eighth book in the Berkeley Design Books Series. This month we are working intently on editing the third design draft. We are incredibly proud of the book, which many of you enabled us to create through your generous donations, and we can’t wait to share this project with you.
On shelves this Fall, the book is 320 pages. Heavily illustrated with more than 300 images, the book showcases the wealth of the Brian and Edith Heath/Heath Ceramics Collection and the spectacular research it has enabled—featuring a forward, preface, introduction, dynamic timeline, thirteen essays, epilogue, and detailed product and dinnerware glaze history. Thematically organized, Edith Heath: Philosophies emphasizes less-known narratives and utilizes rarely seen images.
Essay topics range from Edith’s creative collaborations, her educational background in art education and ceramic chemistry, architectural tile, the philosophical foundations and influences of one of the most significant creative forces in post-WWII America, and much more.
Check out the Table of Contents, Forward, and one essay by JC Miller entitled “Making a Place for Art: Collaboration between Edith Heath and Robert Royston.” The book is still a work in progress—but we wanted to share a sneak peek with all of you. Click here to see two previews of the book. Enjoy!
We are incredibly excited to announce that we have exceeded our goal - and we could not have done it without your critical support and philanthropy! Over six weeks, 156 donors across nine different U.S. states and three different countries generously donated a total of $36,460. With our matching funds, that puts us at a total of $66,460-enabling us to relaunch the Berkeley Design Books series with Edith Heath: Philosophies.
In the next few weeks, we will be following up with you to ensure that you get your perks. Those that opted for the book should expect to receive a copy in early summer 2020. If you opted for a perk and the fair market value of the perk you chose was not subtracted from your donation receipt, please let us know. We can send you an amended copy for your records.
As the project progresses, we will keep you posted. This fall, we will work with Information Office on design concept development, finalizing all the chapters, and selecting images. In winter, copyediting and layout. By spring final files will be sent to the printers and the book will be printed, bound, and shipped back to California. If all goes as planned, the book will be out and on shelves by June 2020.
Once again, thank you so incredibly much for your support. We are thrilled that this book project is happening, and we could not have done it without you.
See your name in lights! Shout-out on the EDA website’s recognition wall.
Pledge $50 and you'll get an exclusive Edith Heath sticker to put on your laptop, chair, or water bottle to show the world you support the EDA and Edith Heath: Philosophies. Bonus = a special thank you on our website’s recognition wall!
In addition to a supporter sticker and a shout-out on our website, you will also receive a limited edition enamel pin modeled after 1940s Heath letterhead and the glaze used in Edith’s early Heathware produced for Gumps. This pin will add a little extra flare anywhere you decide to place it!
Bring the story of Edith Heath and Heath ceramics into your home with this donation. Receive a copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies and discover how Edith was able to forge her own path as a designer, artist, and entrepreneur in post-WWII America.
Not only will you get a copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies, but you will receive an invitation to attend a special, one night only, book talk given by editor Jennifer Volland and contributors. Authors will discuss how the book came to be and the research behind each chapter, followed by a Q&A and book signing!
Edith Heath hand-decorated these twelve dinner plates in the 1960s and 1970s as a way to experiment with glaze application. The blending and layering of different glazes in an expressionist style exemplifies Heath’s nature of constant experimentation. You will also receive a copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies.
Take a trip back in time to 1959, when the Heath Factory plans were being drawn. Join Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic for a one of a kind tour of the Heath factory in Sausalito. This special visit will be hosted by the current owners of Heath Ceramics and is sure to blow your mind with fun facts and behind-the-scenes glimpses. In addition to this once in a lifetime opportunity, you will also receive your very own copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies and acknowledgment in the publication! This tour, slated to take place on a weekday in August 2019, can accommodate 12 people.
Want to take a behind the scenes tour of the Heath Factory but can’t make it during the week? We have an additional opportunity for a weekend day in August, 2019. You will also receive acknowledgment in the publication and a copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies! This tour can accommodate 15 people.
Join the EDA team for an extraordinary look behind the scenes at the EDA. Donors will be given exclusive access to view where collections are housed and participants will be guided through the collection by Curator Chris Marino and Heath Scholar, Author, and Ceramist Rosa Novak. You will also receive your very own copy of Edith Heath: Philosophies.
