Vase

Frederick Walrath was among the first students at the newly-established ceramics program at Alfred University, where he studied with Charles Ferguson Binns from 1901 to 1904. He taught for a couple of years at the University of Chicago’s School of Education, but he returned to his home in Rochester, New York, to look after his father, and soon set up his own pottery there. He also joined the faculty at the Mechanics Institute in Rochester (late the Rochester Institute of Technology), where he taught modeling and pottery. He developed some highly successful colored and textured matte glazes, and even experimented with crystalline glazes. He also carved vases for a short time, as seen in this example with a Native American inspired design. Walrath’s promising career, however, was cut short by an early death after operating his independent pottery for only about a decade and a half.