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Current Exhibition:
State Plates
A Special Exhibition by the International Museum of Dinnerware Design
at Gifts of Art Gallery, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan Taubman Health Center North 3D Gallery
1500 Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
September 5 – December 1, 2023, 8 am – 8 pm
Link to the State Plates exhibition page
Upcoming Events:
IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom Lecture Series
Wednesday, December 13, 2023, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Vessels for the Human Spirit
David MacDonald
David R. MacDonald received his BS in Art Education from Hampton University; and his MFA from the University of Michigan. In 1971 he joined the faculty of the School of Art at Syracuse University, retiring in 2008 with the rank of Professor Emeritus. His work has been featured in several ceramic textbooks and magazines. He has also been featured in several nationally televised programs; such as, HGTV’s “Modern Masters” and PBS’s “A Craftsmen’s Legacy”. He has been given a number of awards by various national arts organizations such as, National Conference for the Education in the Ceramics Arts’ “Excellence in Teaching Award” and the National Crafts Council’s “Master Craftsman Award”. In 2023 Professor MacDonald was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Syracuse University. Since his retirement, Professor MacDonald has been active lecturing across the country and working in his studio creating his signature ceramic works.
Artist Statement
“The essence of the art experience, for me, has been one of self-discovery and communication. In one sense, it is a very private and personal journey in search of order, reason, and beauty. Yet, in another sense, it is a very public act; an attempt to express and share, with others, my realizations and discoveries.
“The principal concern of my art is the articulation of the magnificence and nobility of the human spirit; and a celebration of my African heritage. The material I use is clay. The primary vehicle for these expressions is the vessel.
“The vessel embodies unique social and spiritual connections and associations, to all people; which does not necessarily exist in “non-vessel” ceramic forms. There exists in the vessel a timelessness and universality that records, contains and perpetuates the very essence of humanity and the human experience.”
CLICK HERE to register for this free event. We will send a link to the Zoom presentation the day of the event.
IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom Lecture Series
Wednesday, January 10, 2024, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Feeding Art Deco
Teri J. Edelstein
A central aspect of the culture and lifestyle of the 1920s and 30s was the creation and consumption of food. You could exist in an Art Deco world where everything from the soup to the nuts was inflected with this style. As a pervasive mode, Deco shaped a total environment and eating was an integral part of this. Tableware, of course, was a significant feature. The lecture will focus upon some of the more striking results of this encounter.
Dr. Teri J. Edelstein, curator and museum consultant is principal of Teri J. Edelstein, Museum Strategies. She served as Deputy Director of The Art Institute of Chicago and before that as director of the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art and the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. She has taught at Yale University, Mount Holyoke College, and The University of Chicago. Her numerous publications include many articles and exhibition catalogues as well as the book Art for All: British Posters for Transport. She contributed a major essay to Art Deco Chicago: Designing Modern America. Most recently, she curated Everyone’s Art Gallery: Posters of the London Underground for the Art Institute of Chicago and contributed an essay to the book E. McKnight Kauffer: The Artist in Advertising.
Image: Schramberger Majolikafabrik, liqueur set, Eva Zeisel, designer, Germany, 1930s, IMoDD 2017.181.
CLICK HERE to register for this free event. We will send a link to the Zoom presentation the day of the event.
Recent Exhibitions:
Entomophagous Dining (Eating Insects)
Fifth Biennial National Juried Exhibition
presented by
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design
April 8 – August 26, 2023
An exhibition featuring artists and designers exploring how dining on insects (entomophagy) may be in our future, if not in our present.
Link to Entomophagous Dining On-Line Catalogue
Image: Janel Jacobson, Peeper & Mayfly, carved porcelain box, celadon glaze, Diam: 4.5”, 1992, IMoDD 2022.146, Museum Purchase.
Dining on Modernism
A special exhibition at
Palm Springs Modernism Show
February 17-20, 2023
Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs CA
Presented as part of MODERNISM WEEK 2023
New IMoDD Videos
Here is a sneak preview about IMoDD, in case you are not that familiar with what we have to offer. This YouTube video was recorded in April 2021, and inspired the Unforgettable Dinnerware series.
Visit our Viktor Schreckengost Gallery
Featuring design drawings donated by the Schreckengost family.
Virtual Exhibition opening December 21, 2021
We invited you to show us your wedding china. See what we received, along with some of our favorites from the IMoDD permanent collection.
Virtual Exhibition opening December 8, 2021
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design is getting out the special holiday dishes this year.
Diving into the Tantalizing Well of the Sea
an article by IMoDD Director Margaret Carney’s appeared in The Chicago FoodCultura Clarion, Issue 4, November 2021.
Colorful California Dinnerware
A special exhibition at Gifts of Art Gallery, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Taubman Health Center North 3D Gallery
September 7 – December 3, 2021
Breakfast
IMoDD’s Fourth Biennial Invitational and Juried Exhibition recently closed, but you can still experience it through the online catalogue …
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design was established in 2012 with the knowledge that dining is a shared experience that can bridge together different communities. We support all those standing up against the historic inequality and institutionalized racism experienced in the Black community. In solidarity, IMoDD, its board, and its staff continue to amplify equity, diversity, and inclusion and call our community to action with us in this commitment to change.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design was established in 2012 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We are a charitable 501(c)(3) organization holding pop-up exhibitions until we get a bricks and mortar facility. The International Museum of Dinnerware Design has a curated collection of over 9000 objects.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design celebrates a significant aspect of our daily lives. The permanent collection features international dinnerware from ancient to futuristic times; created from ceramic, glass, plastic, metal, lacquer, fiber, paper, wood and more.
The collection and related special exhibitions reveal a refreshing approach – featuring masterpieces of the tabletop genre created by contemporary artists, as well as notable historic dinnerware by the leading designers for industry, juxtaposed with an uncommon focus on non-functional fine art that references dining and a bit of kitsch thrown in for good measure.
Here’s the only museum in the world devoted exclusively to dinnerware, making new memories for every visitor. The Ann Arbor-based IMoDD brings enough dinnerware to each special exhibition to whet your appetite.
IMoDD, through its collections, exhibitions and educational programming, provides a window on our material culture, norms and attitudes towards food and dining. A delight for collectors, foodies, and visitors worldwide, IMoDD has been described as creating a dream museum one place setting at a time.