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Hull-House Highlights
Ceramic Creche
by Miguel Juárez
When Miguel Juárez took ceramics classes in the early 1930s at Hull-House in his Near West neighborhood, he had never worked with clay before. As a recent Mexican immigrant, he and his family had moved to Chicago in search of work and a new life. While employed as a railroad laborer, he had lost one of his legs in an accident. At that time, neither the employer nor the government offered unemployment compensation for injured workers. Without traditional marketable skills, Juárez had no option except to seek charity to support his wife and four small children. At the Hull-House Art School and the Hull-House Kilns commercial pottery operation, he learned to design ceramic figurines and utilitarian wares. Juárez's whimsical clay creations of nativity scenes, rodeos, and cowboys connected the traditions of his Mexican heritage with his experiences in midwest urban America. He learned English, obtained an artificial leg, sold his art pottery, and demonstrated his techniques to other students. Myrtle Meritt French, head and co-founder of the Hull-House Kilns, wrote Jane Addams that Juárez "can sell his things almost as fast as he can make them."(1) In recognition of his talent, a photograph of one of his creches appeared in Design magazine(2). More recently, his work has been featured in pottery exhibitions at the Chicago Historical Society and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The creche featured is 3 3/4 inches tall and glazed in turquoise. It depicts the nativity with Mary, Joseph, Jesus, a donkey and an ox. Underneath it is inscribed "Miguel Juárez" and has a pencil notation of "$10," the selling price at the Hull-House Shop on Michigan Avenue. The shop received $1 toward operations, while Hull-House Kilns and Juárez shared the remaining $9. His $4.50 share would have purchased approximately 65 loaves of bread during the Great Depression. Cheryl
R. Ganz, Ph.D candidate, Department of History, UIC 1. Myrtle Meritt French to Jane Addams, August 13, 1931, Jane Addams Papers, Series I, Supplement, Swarthmore College Peace Collection, in Jane Addams Papers, microfilm (Sanford, N.C: Microfilming Corporation of America, 1983), reel 22-807 to 812. 2. "Creche", Design 37 (November 1935). Photograph credit: University of Illinois at Chicago, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum |