by Louise Irvine Museum curators around the world recently engaged in a "battle of the bottoms" on social media and the best behinds were featured in the British national press. The challenge inspired us to seek out some of our most captivating candidates in our porcelain figurine collection from the

by Louise Irvine Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, means “giving life to flowers”. No wonder Chihuly chose this name for his monumental vases of flowers after a visit to Japan. His fabulous flower heads and leaves of glass have an organic yet otherworldly feeling. Art and nature harmonize

Cassidy Lowe is such a frequent visitor to WMODA that she has become part of the family. The young art student spends hours studying, sketching and photographing the exhibits for her digital pattern making. She creates amazing kaleidoscopic designs from details of her favorite museum objects. Cassidy writes: I am

by Louise Irvine “Votes for Women” was the rallying cry until August 1920, when all American women were finally enfranchised. In Britain, agitation for women’s suffrage first succeeded with “Deeds Not Words” in 1918 and was equalized with men in 1928. Women also struggled to assert their rights in the

by Louise Irvine This month we are celebrating putti in the Fired Arts and featuring some fantastic hot glass sculptures in the WMODA collection, which were created by the Murano Maestro Pino Signoretto (1944-2017). Pino is recognized as one of the world’s greatest glass sculptors and you can now watch

by Louise Irvine The moon flask was one of the most popular forms of art pottery during the Aesthetic era in the late 19th century. Originally, the full moon porcelain surface was used to hand-paint symbolic designs for Chinese imperial palaces and was adopted later by Japanese artists. The European

by Louise Irvine Putti are personifications of the human spirit and emotions, including love, and are popular motifs in pottery and porcelain. Cupid, known as Eros to the Greeks, is famous today as a purveyor of love in Valentine's cards but he is just one of many cute infants who

by Louise Irvine Have you ever imagined yourself as a mermaid? Now your dream could come true with the 1000 Mermaids Project. Body scans of aspiring mermaids are being created for a public Eco-Art installation and artificial coral reef off the east coast of Florida. Discover more about mermaids in

by Louise Irvine Monster Soup was a startling satire on London’s drinking water in 1828. A horrified woman drops her teacup as she looks at a drop of Thames water through a microscope. The cartoon directed at the London water companies was drawn by William Heath when commissioners were appointed

by Louise Irvine Exotic creatures of the deep exerted a powerful fascination for glass artists during the Art Nouveau era. Shimmering shoals of fish in iridescent colors appealed particularly to René Lalique in the early 1900s. The public were receptive customers, eager to romanticize the natural world as an escape