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Mark Bassett trained to be a
college English professor, and began teaching in 1975, while in
graduate school. In Fall 2005 he returned to this
profession as a part-time Lecturer for the new
inter-disciplinary SAGES
program
of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Mark is also a
researcher, dealer, and collector
specializing in American and European art pottery. After inheriting
some art pottery from his grandmother, Mark began collecting pottery
from the Art Deco period, roughly
1920-1945. Around 1984, to upgrade his collection, he began selling by
mail via classified ads in the Antique Trader Weekly. He first
attended the Zanesville (OH) pottery shows in 1985, and in 1986 began
to sell pottery there himself. He is now a regular exhibitor in selected antique pottery shows. Mark does not
do appraisals, neither in writing, nor in person.
Visit Mark's Internet Showcase -or-
Use the buttons at left to browse this site.
Background. Starting in July 1998 Mark Bassett began making Internet sales. He has long been a member of the American Art Pottery Association, and is currently serving on its Board of Trustees (as well as Book Review Editor of JAAPA, the Journal of the American Art Pottery Association. He is also a trustee of the Trideca Society, of the Cleveland Museum of Art; and a member of the Cowan Pottery Museum Associates. (For information on these groups, see the LINKS page.)
During 1975-1984 he taught technical writing
and other subjects. Assisted by an undergraduate minor in Biology (at
the University of Alabama in Huntsville), Mark also worked for several
years as an editorial
assistant for an agronomist, Dr. Gyorgyi Rédei, author of the
textbook Genetics
(Macmillan,
1982).
During the early 1980s, he worked part-time for Kay Bonetti, the innovative creator (and interviewer) of American Audio Prose Library, winner of a Peabody Award in Journalism. In 1985 he earned a Ph.D. in English at the University of Missouri (in Columbia). After graduation, Mark taught technical writing and other subjects full-time for six years, first at Wichita State University (1984-1987) and then at Iowa State University (1987-1990).
In 1991 he published his edition of the autobiography of suspense writer Cornell Woolrich, Blues of a Lifetime. Mark is an avid reader and enjoys a wide range of books. Recommended reads: Umberto Eco, Baudolino; Edna O'Brien, In the Forest; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; Marcel Proust, Within a Budding Grove; Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code; Richard Mohr, Pottery, Politics, Art; and Nancy Owen, Rookwood Pottery and the Industry of Art.
During 1990-1991 Mark worked in research and advertising for the Gene Harris Antique Auction Center, Marshalltown, Iowa. Working with the Harris family, he learned about antiques from French cameo glass to Hummels, from brilliant cut glass to Fiesta. By late 1991 he began working as a full-time antique dealer. Although he sometimes deals in other decorative arts, fine art, enamels, art glass, or even furniture, his main interest is ceramics.
Author! In 1992 Mark Bassett began working with Victoria Naumann Peltz on a research project that evolved into the book Cowan Pottery and the Cleveland School. Published in 1997, the Cowan book was one of only two commercial publications to be nominated for a prize in Distinguished Scholarship, given by the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.
<>First published in 1999, Introducing Roseville Pottery is an extremely popular full-color reference book. In August of 2002, Mark's second Roseville hardback was published... Understanding Roseville Pottery. Like his first Roseville title, the new book is based on NEW research and is full of surprising corrections to the "common wisdom." In 2004 came American Art Pottery Wall Pockets. Mark is now working on a book with the tentative title Depression Era American Art Pottery: AMACO to WPA, which he hopes will be published in late 2007. Mark enjoys research and writing--and is also developing his skill as a photographer.
Other Hats. Mark Bassett also collects pottery and buys pottery for resale. Selected consignments are exhibited in his booth at the nation's leading pottery shows. Both for his own collection and to satisfy the interests of his numerous clients, he is always particularly interested in hearing about unusual examples.
Originally from Oklahoma City, Mark Bassett and his partner C. George Cooper
(a native
of
Springfield, Colorado) moved to Cleveland in 1997. They had met in
Wichita, Kansas, where Mark taught full-time in the Wichita State
University English Department between 1984 and 1987. In Fall 1987, they
moved to Nevada, Iowa, and bought a house when Mark began a three-year
non-renewable (and non-tenurable) teaching position at Iowa State
University. In Iowa, George worked for Arndt Organ Supply in Ankeny, a
Des Moines suburb. In order to avoid the constant and unpredictable
moves of the "tenure-track treadmill" and to allow George to pursue his
passion
for organ-building too, Mark temporarily left college teaching and
transformed his hobby of collecting American art pottery into an
occupation and research subject. Around the time the Cowan book was
about
to be published, the couple decided to relocate to Cleveland.
Not long before the 1999 publication of Introducing Roseville Pottery, they bought a 1917 Arts and Crafts Colonial home in Lakewood, a west-side suburb. George is assistant to the head voicer at Holtkamp Organ Company, and a theatre organ enthusiast. One of his projects involves building a working pipe organ in the couple's home, where they celebrated their 21st anniversary on December 8, 2005. Mark and George enjoy ballroom dancing, including the Texas 2-Step, and they are Plus-level square dancers with the Cleveland City Country Dancers.
© 2006 Mark Bassett
Updated
6/15/06