McCoy Exhibit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: Susan Talbot-Stanaway, Director
August 27, 2011 phone 740-452-0741 or susan@zanesvilleart.org.
ZANESVILLE MUSEUM OF ART ANNOUNCES OPENING OF SPECIAL EXHIBITION AUGUST 31
On August 31, the Zanesville Museum of Art opens the special exhibition, “The Nelson and Billie McCoy Collection.” The exhibition includes over 100 pieces of pottery chosen from Nelson and Billie McCoy’s private collection. Assembled over several decades, the McCoy’s collection includes many rare and one-of-a-kind pieces. The generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson McCoy will make it possible for visitors to see examples of these rare items, which date from the mid-1800s to 2002.
There will be a public reception honoring Mr. and Mrs. McCoy on Saturday, October 15, 4 – 7 p.m., at the Museum. The exhibition will continue through December
McCoy is a pottery brand famed throughout the nation and is quite possibly the most popular brand among pottery collectors. Excellent and up-to-date design, handsome glazes, and an enormous range of shapes and uses are all reasons for McCoy’s popularity. McCoy made many lines that combined usefulness with color, humor, and appealing themes. These included planters, cookie jars, and banks.
The McCoy family began in the pottery business in Zanesville in 1848. They began with simple but handsome stoneware crocks, jugs, and bottles made at a pottery works in Putnam (now Zanesville). It was established by W. Nelson McCoy and his uncle, W. F. McCoy. Succeeding generations opened different divisions, new companies, and an enormous range of products and styles, from functional ware to sculptural figures and vases. The first art ware was produced in about 1904 by the J. W. McCoy Pottery Company located in Roseville. The art line was called the Mt. Pelee Line.
J. W.’s son, Nelson McCoy Senior founded the Nelson McCoy Sanitary and Stoneware Company, also in Roseville, and changed the name to The Nelson McCoy Pottery in 1931. Nelson McCoy Sr. died in 1945, and Nelson McCoy Melick took over the Presidency of the Company. In 1948, Nelson McCoy Jr. started in the family pottery company. In six months, he and Melick rebuilt the McCoy factory that had been destroyed by fire in 1950. Nelson McCoy Jr. became President in 1954. By end of the 1960s, the plant covered 150,000 Sq feet and employed 300 people.
In 1967, after 57 years of operation, the McCoy Company was sold to the owners of the Mt. Clemens Pottery Co., although Nelson McCoy Jr. remained as President. After about seven years of operation the Lancaster Colony Corporation purchased the pottery in 1974. In 1981 Nelson McCoy Jr. retired. Mrs. Nelson (Billie) McCoy was a designer and line supervisor