David Rago

Arts and Crafts Movement US

  • $75

    Learn in an online classroom with no more than 20 classmates. More

Course Description

David Rago has appeared as an appraiser on the US Antiques Roadshow for 20 years and he is the author of six books on 20th century design.  He has dealt in Arts and Crafts for 44 years and together with his wife owns David Rago Auctions.

On this online course David paints a fascinating picture of The Arts and Crafts Design Movement and how this revolution has impacted collectible arts and crafts in the US. David includes real world examples and brings the social and political context behind key pieces, so you come to recognise the signature style of the movement and specific influential individuals.

David draws on his experience and his very personal perspective of the Movement, of living with objects in your own home that carried the spirit of creativity. He takes each of the three main ingredients of Arts and Crafts material step-by-step - mud, copper, and oak. With his infectious enthusiasm about the creative process David will share with you how the Arts and Crafts Movement changed these base materials, into golden objects, and who were the key arts and crafts designers, manufacturers and artists in America.

Whether you're an enthusiastic collector or a dealer David will teach you how to spot good arts and crafts design movement objects and decorative arts pieces for collection or for resale.

This is a unique opportunity to interact with a real world expert. But please remember he won't be able to provide a valuation service for your objects.

You'll learn

  • how the arts and crafts movement reached America
  • leading potters and ceramic works across the USA
  • key wrought metal schools
  • influential furniture manufacturers and their style

Time to complete this arts and crafts movement USA course:

Every student is different but in general we think the whole course will take around 7 hours 10 minutes to complete including:

  • Video lessons: 2 hours 10 minutes in total
  • Assignment: at least 1 hour per lesson
  • Tutor feedback review (Expert level): 15 minutes per lesson

    • The course includes:

    • On-demand video lessons - presented by David Rago
    • lifetime access to the video, notes and interactive class
    • flexible classes - join and learn when and where you like
    • downloadable lesson notes
    • practical (optional) arts and crafts design movement project
    • access on your mobile, PC, Mac or laptop
    • small interactive online classroom chat online to students from around the world

    Ready to get started?

    Just add the course to your basket above - choose the 'Expert' option for personal feedback from David on your arts and craft design movement assignments.

    Any questions? Contact us by clicking on the orange speech symbol - we'd love to hear from you.

    Course outline

    • Arts & Crafts Moves to America

      In this first lesson David gives a fascinating perspective on the changes in society just after the Industrial Revolution and how this societal change had a very direct impact on craftsmanship. A whistle-stop tour through its British origins from William Morris and his contemporaries, before crossing the pond and seeing how seeds of the Arts and Crafts Design Movement branched out in America, and how it evolved from state to state.

    • Decorative Ceramics

      David will take you on a regional tour, stopping to focus on leading potters and the progression from east to west as the movement matured. With over 200 artists producing art pottery during this period, David pulls on a wealth of examples, showing numerous pieces and you will become confident with the individual traits of some of the leading potters of their time. From the works of William Grueby that looks as much grown as it does potted; the animal designs of the Saturday Evening Girls; to the folk art influence of William Walley; or George Ohr, arguably the most important potter to come out of America at the turn of the century; and many, many more pioneering artists during this time.

    • Wrought Metal

      From ceramics to wrought metal. In many ways the path that wrought metal took in America mirrors the path that decorative ceramics took moving from east to west. In this lesson David will deep dive into 3 particularly influential schools the New York School, Chicago School and the Bay Area California School with a focus on certain companies within; Gustav Stickley, Roycroft, Kalo, Dirk Van Erk amongst others

    • Furniture

      The fourth and final installment focuses on furniture. David explores four furniture producers, their style and impact on the movement: the visionary Gustav Stickley; his brother and competitor L and JG Stickley; the Roycrofters and the Limbert Furniture Company. David brings these influential figures and their work to life, a unique opportunity to learn from the perspective of a true professional who has probably handled as much work from this period as anyone has. Finally David brings this all of these elements, mud, copper and oak, to look at the totality of the Arts and Crafts Movement – how these elements were meant to be integrated so that these objects have a unified impact on the home.

    Buy now and start whenever you like

    • Peer

      Discover the benefits of group learning in an online interactive classroom of no more than 20 people. Get the most from shared knowledge and community study

      • Start course whenever you like
      • Practise what you learn with your peers
      • Online classroom with up to 20 classmates
      • 4 lessons with expert videos & notes
      • 4 course assignments
      • Group chat & direct message classmates
      • Lifetime access to videos, notes & classroom
      Learn more
      $75

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    Buy this course for a business or group

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    Antiques classroom - how it works

    • Start anytime

      Watch video tutorials led by expert tutors

      Watch video tutorials led by expert tutors

    • Test yourself

      Practice what you learn with inspiring assignments

      Practice what you learn with inspiring assignments

    • Personal tuition

      Get assignment feedback from expert tutors

      Get assignment feedback from expert tutors

    • Share ideas

      Collaborate and chat directly to classmates

      Collaborate and chat directly to classmates

    Meet David Rago

    David Rago - Antiques
    David Rago began a life long passion for American decorative ceramics at the age of sixteen, at a flea market in his home state of New Jersey. Today, with partners Suzanne Perrault and Miriam Tucker, he oversees the auction house that bears his name, selling privately in the field of 20th/21st C. Design. He lectures nationally and also appears as an expert appraiser for the PBS series, Antiques Roadshow, where he specializes in decorative ceramics and porcelain.

    Rago is an animated teacher and a natural story teller.

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    Awards & Accreditations

    • CPD Accredited (provider 50276)
    • Good Web Guide
    • Red Herring Winner
    • Education Investor Awards 2021 - Finalist
    • Royal Horticultural Society
    • Digital Education Awards 2023 Winner for Digital Health and Wellbeing Learning Product of the Year
    • Digital Education Awards 2023 Winner for Adult Home Learning Product of the Year