Events
Upcoming IMoDD Events
October at IMoDD:
Picnic
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design’s Sixth Biennial Juried Exhibition
Exhibition dates: September 6, 2025 – January 17, 2026
An exhibition for artists and designers in all media exploring the theme Picnic through the creation of specialized dinnerware and related 2D and 3D work.
Click here for more about Picnic
Dining Grails
This ongoing exhibition includes fabulously designed objects by leading designers for industry as well as masterpieces by contemporary artists in the tabletop genre such as Eva Zeisel, Russel Wright, Roy Lichtenstein, Eddie Dominguez and Pop-up book illustrator Robert Sabuda.
Click here for more about Dining Grails
New IMoDD Videos
Half Half: A Chinese American Life Expressed through Ceramic Art
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Wednesday, October 8, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Presented by Beth Lo
Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture at Alfred University presented by IMoDD Director Margaret Carney: Binns @ Alfred: n degrees of separation
September 16, 2025 4:30 p.m., Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center Alfred University Campus, Alfred, New York.
More about Binns @ Alfred: n degrees of separation with link to video
Splendid Settings: 100 years of Mottahedeh Design
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Presented by Wendy Kvalheim
More about Splendid Settings with link to video
Current Exhibitions:
Dining Grails
This exhibition includes fabulously designed objects by leading designers for industry as well as masterpieces by contemporary artists in the tabletop genre such as Eva Zeisel, Russel Wright, Roy Lichtenstein, Eddie Dominguez and Pop-up book illustrator Robert Sabuda.
Link to: Dining Grails exhibition page
Picnic
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design’s Sixth Biennial Juried Exhibition
Exhibition dates: September 6, 2025 – January 17, 2026 Opening reception: Saturday, September 6, 2025, 1 – 4 p.m. Location: The International Museum of Dinnerware Design, 524 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401
Our special exhibition “PICNIC” features the work of thirty artists in ceramic, glass, metal, plastic, paper, mixed media, watercolor, analog collage, digital photography and digital illustration. The intention of this juried and invitational exhibition is to showcase the best in contemporary design as it relates to the theme Picnic through the creation of specialized dinnerware or 2D and 3D work relating to the topic, as created by artists and designers in all media from the United States. These new creations alongside cherished historic and vintage picnic ware of bygone eras, should satiate one’s appetite for picnic fare.
Link to Picnic on-line Catalogue
Dorothy Wilson Perkins Lecture at Alfred University presented by IMoDD Director Margaret Carney
September 16, 2025 4:30 p.m., Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center Alfred University Campus, Alfred, New York
Margaret Carney presented a lecture on the legacy of Charles Fergus Binns titled “Binns@Alfred: n degrees of separation.” The lecture is given in support of the exhibition “History: A Legacy in Motion – Alfred Ceramic Art 1900 – 2025” at the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum. The exhibition presents the extraordinarily diverse practices of artists who held (or continue to hold) full time teaching positions at the New York State College of Ceramics School of Art and Design since its creation by Binns in 1900.
The Alfred Ceramic Art Museum established the Dorothy Wilson Perkins Ceramic History Lecture Series in 1998, thanks to a generous endowment to the Museum by Dr. Lyle Perkins in memory of his wife, Dr. Dorothy Wilson Perkins. Since then the series has brought in exceptional speakers discussing a wide range of topics relating to ceramic history, culture and contemporary practice.
https://ceramicsmuseum.alfred.edu/perkins-lecture-series/carney/index.html
Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom Lecture Series
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design’s Unforgettable Dinnerware on-line lecture series includes tours of private collections and artist studios, allows one to meet directly with dinnerware designers and contemporary artists, and shares presentations by researchers and authors on major dinnerware manufacturers, including Mid-Century Modern dinnerware. These conversations are presented via Zoom. Our Fall 2025 IMoDD Zoom series began in September 2025 and continues on the second Wednesday of each month through December.
Did you miss any of our Unforgettable Dinnerware lectures? They are available to view on line! Videos of all of our Unforgettable Dinnerware lectures are available as YouTubes through our IMoDD-Videos Page.
Coming in November:
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 6:30 pm Eastern time
Creating Shapes: 40 Years of Design, Modelmaking, and Moldmaking for Dinnerware and More
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Daniel Mehlman
Daniel Mehlman is a freelance designer/craftsman who develops products for the ceramics and glass industry. Plaster is the traditional material for modelmaking and moldmaking in ceramics, and Dan has a lifetime of experience with this versatile medium. His clients have included Dansk, Steuben, Corning, Mottahedeh, Lenox, Wilton Armetale, Nambe, Pewabic, Rookwood, Haeger, and many others, as well as numerous studio ceramists. As a modelmaker, he has worked with many noted designers, including Eva Zeisel, and has also made many models for historic reproduction products. He has presented lectures and workshops in ceramics departments around the country.
In this talk, Dan will show images selected from his diverse body of commercial work in design, models, and molds of dinnerware, vessels, and sculpture. He’ll discuss how product design and production tooling are facilitated by the craft of plaster work.
Dan grew up in New York and has been involved in art and ceramics since an early age. He attended the High School of Music and Art, Rhode Island School of Design (BFA, Ceramics) and California State University, Fullerton (MA, Ceramics). He also has a background in construction, working in his father’s general contracting company in NYC. After graduate school, he taught in the Parsons/New School ceramics program and worked for a master moldmaker, before setting up his own practice. In the ensuing 40+ years , he has played a key role in the design and tooling of hundreds of products. He lives in an 1889 farmhouse near Albany, NY, where he has built a well-equipped 1,500 sq ft. studio, unique in its dedication to work in plaster, clay, and related materials.
Register for this free Zoom lecture HERE and we will send you a link the day of the event.
Image: Plaster models of dinnerware patterns for Dansk, various designers. Models by Dan Mehlman.
New IMoDD Video:
Wednesday, October 8, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Half Half: A Chinese American Life Expressed through Ceramic Art
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Beth Lo
“My work as an artist has always been an expression of my lived experience as an ABC, an American Born Chinese. This slide talk will follow my work in clay as I consider my various roles in the world through the years, from child, to parent, to caregiver, to social commentator.”
Born in Lafayette, Indiana to parents of Chinese nationality, ceramicist Beth Lo makes work about family, culture and language. Her Good Children vessels and sculptures have been exhibited internationally, and her work has been recognized by fellowships from United States Artists, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Montana Arts Council and the American Craft Museum. She is a Professor Emeritus of Art and taught Ceramics at the University of Montana from 1985-2016. Beth is also an award-winning children’s book illustrator and professional bass player for several musical ensembles.
New IMoDD Video:
Wednesday, September 10, 2025, 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Splendid Settings: 100 years of Mottahedeh Design
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Wendy Kvalheim
The global evolution of porcelain is illustrated in the work of Mottahedeh and Company, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. They are the recognized leader in antique reproductions and decorative ceramic objects.
Wendy Kvalheim is the owner and Design Director of Mottahedeh, carrying forward the distinguished ceramics company founded a century ago by Mildred and Rafi Mottahedeh. The firm specializes in meticulously crafted antique reproductions and is honored to have been associated with the Historic Charleston Foundation as a licensee for over 50 years.
Ms. Kvalheim received degrees from Mount Holyoke College and Pratt Institute of Art. Prior to taking over Mottahedeh she worked as a sculptor in bronze. Ms. Kvalheim and her husband Grant live in Princeton, New Jersey and are passionate travelers. They have visited over 75 countries where she finds endless inspiration for her work.
New IMoDD Video:
Wednesday, May 14, 2025, 6;30 p.m. Eastern Time
Mid-Century Beverage Ware: From Kitchen Table to Cocktail Table
part of the IMoDD Unforgettable Dinnerware Zoom lecture series
Presented by Scott Hamblen
A curated stroll through one collector’s inventory. Join Scott Hamblen for the evening as he shares a look into his personal collection of bar and beverage wares.
An Ohio transplant by way of Louisiana and Texas, Scott Hamblen currently works for a local Cincinnati developer. Most collectors of Mid-Century tabletopia know Scott for his passion in the pursuit of vintage bar and beverage wares, and way too much dinnerware.
Not an IMoDD member? Join Here:
Recent Events:
Mixology Event and Pop-Up Exhibition:
Barware
Mixology Event and Pop-Up Exhibition at the International Museum of Dinnerware Design, 524 Broadway in Kingston
Exhibition Open: May 22 – June 1, 2025
Opening Event: Thursday, May 22 from 5:00 to 8:00 pm
IMoDD’s Barware exhibition includes international barware in the Art Deco and Mid-Century Modern eras (late 1920s-1960s+) from the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Portugal, and France and American made glass, chrome, wood, rattan, and plastic cocktail implements and related barware.
The International Museum of Dinnerware Design
Members Preview Party
524 Broadway, Kingston, NY
Saturday, October 26, 2024, 4:30 to 7:30 pm.
IMoDD invited museum members and honored guests to a celebration to preview our inaugural exhibitions in advance of the formal opening of the museum on November 2.
