Peggy Beck

Artist Details

• First Name Peggy
• Middle Name Paver
• Maiden Name Beck
• Alternate Name(s) Peggy Beck Evans
• Surname Beck
• Spouse’s Full Name Richard Evans, also on the faculty at Avon Old Farms School, Connecticut
• Names and Birth Years of Children at least one step-child
• Birth Date September 30, 1903
• Death Date September 13, 1987
• Death Place Palm Beach, Florida
• Residence(s) Chicago, Illinois
  
  late 1930s-1940s: Chesterton and Furnessville, Indiana
  
  1951: moved to Connecticut
  
  1970s: retired to Palm Beach, Florida
• Active In Chicago, Illinois
  
  Avon, Connecticut
• Studio Location(s) late 1930s-1940s: shared studio with Hazel and Vin Hannell, Chesterton and Furnessville, Indiana
• Categories Block Printer, Ceramicist, Illustrator, Watercolorist
• Training Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
  University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  ca 1932: three-year Certificate, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  1937: Summer School, New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred University, Alfred, New York
  
• Relevant Travel 3 months in 1963:  14 countries including Scandinavia, Italy, and Yugoslavia with her husband
• Exhibitions History March 23-June 2, 1935: Fourteenth International Water Color Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Wash
  
  1938: Ninth Ceramic National Exhibition, Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts, Syracuse, New York:  Vase, peach bloom, copper reduction
• Collections Avon Old Farms School, Avon, Connecticut
  
  Graham Lee Collection
  
  Eric Litke Collection
• Memberships 1947: Chicago Potters Guild
• Other Occupation(s) 1944: night faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  
  1951-circa 1970: ceramics teacher, Avon Old Farms Boys School, Avon, Connecticut
• Website(s) page with illustrations on The Marks Project website
• Biography Peggy Beck Evans (née Paver) is primarily known for wheel-thrown, functional wares using her own formulas of high-fire red and white stoneware clays and multi-color glazes. Evans' work is characterized by a variety of colors and textures.
  
  Occasionally Evans made limited production runs produced in molds or over forms. Her limited production wares have elements of hand-finished work. Late in her career, Evans designed commission tiles and some sculptural objects.
  
  Evans also made one-of-a-kind commission tablewares designed for specific clients. These production wares included double candle holders that could be combined create a variety of different arrangements; "pod dishes" designed for candy and condiments; "handies" little dishes that fit the hand; square bowls; tumblers; cigarette boxes and teacup and saucer sets. The saucers of the teacup sets are elongated to hold hors-d'oeuvres.
  
  Evans organized the first ceramics course at Indiana University in 1949. She also taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for seven years (dates unknown).
  
  In 1951, Evans moved to Connecticut where she taught Ceramics at the Avon Old Farms Boys School and adult education evening classes. Throughout this time, she continued independent commission work, designing for architects and interior decorators.
  
  In 1963, Evans traveled through Europe for three months. Driving through 14 countries including Scandinavia, Italy, and Yugoslavia. Accompanied by her husband, Richard Evans, also on the faculty at Avon Old Farms School, the couple visited craft organizations, museums and, studios. Evans incorporated new ideas from this trip into her ceramics classes and into her own work.
  
  In the 1970s, Evans retired to Palm Beach, Florida after a nearly 50-year career teaching and making ceramics. In 1967 she concisely described herself in the Hartford Courant, "I am a potter."
  
  (This biography was compiled with the assistance of Eric Litke, Museum Assistant, American Decorative Arts, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT. Litke brought Evans to TMP’s attention and provided not only the primary source material used in this biography but also the images used to create this Artist’s Page. Correspondence with Litke dated January 2018.)