Be on hand when Meredith Chilton talks about her work and Harlequin Unmasked: The Commedia dell’Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, winner of the 2005 USITT Golden Pen Award at the Annual Conference & Stage Expo. Ms. Chilton will also autograph copies of the book, which will be on sale at the USITT Boutique in Toronto.

by Barbara E.R. Lucas
PR and Marketing Manager

USITT's Golden Pen winner, Meredith Chilton, author of Harlequin Unmasked: The Commedia dell’Arte and Porcelain Sculpture, will be on hand in Toronto for a special session on her work. She will also focus on the holdings of the George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art in Toronto.

Ms. Chilton will receive the Golden Pen Award as part of the March 16 to 19 event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ms. Chilton's session will be 10 to 11:20 a.m. Saturday, March 19 and will include a discussion of the Gardner's collection and the possibilities the book presents for theatrical designers. Lance Brockman, co-chair of USITT's Golden Pen selection sub-committee, will moderate.

At 11:30 a.m., there will be a book signing at the USITT Boutique where Harlequin Unmasked will be available for sale during the Conference. After the Conference it will be available through the Institute’s online bookstore at www.usitt.org, or by calling the Institute Office at 800-93USITT.

The award will be formally presented at the Conference’s Awards Banquet Saturday, March 19, 2005.

Harlequin Unmasked encompasses theatre, court culture, masquerades, and the decorative arts. It focuses on almost 150 porcelain sculptures to show the transformation of commedia dell'arte's into sculpture. By examining these porcelain figures in depth, the book becomes essential for people interested in theatre, painting, costume, and decorative arts.

A resident of Toronto, Ms. Chilton is an independent ceramic scholar and curator. Until 2004 she as a curator at the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Arts in Toronto. Harlequin Unmasked is the first major publication about the museum’s collection, issued by Yale University Press in association with the Gardiner.

Ms. Chilton has been the curator of 19 exhibitions, has lectured extensively in North America and Europe, has made four films on ceramics with the Canadian Broadcasting Company, and appears regularly on Canadian television. Born in England, she attended l’Université d’Aix-Marseilles, the University of East Anglia, and Manchester University.

She is on the board of the American Ceramic Circle, and has served as editor of the American Ceramic Circle Journal; is vice president of the Cumming Ceramic Research Foundation; and is on the faculty of the Bard (New York) Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts. Ms. Chilton is also an honorary member of the Gardiner Volunteer Committee and the Connecticut Ceramic Circle.

The Golden Pen Award is given each year by USITT to an outstanding publication in the field of design and production for the performing arts. The winning publication demonstrates outstanding scholarly research and critical thinking; presents the work and methodology of exceptional practitioners of theatrical arts and/or crafts; or describes the methods, skills, and technology involved in creating works of theatre and/or crafts.

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