I recently had an interesting phone conversation with Henry Cavanagh. I have
three of his pieces in my own collection and wanted to know a little more about the artist behind the jars.
We talked about his art, his life,
how he started, and what he's up to now. Since we are fellow "Brooklynites" there was an immediate connection.
And as Henry says, being from Brooklyn is really a nationality in itself.
It might be a little hard to imagine a Hippo wearing a tuxedo or a turban, but that is exactly
what Henry Cavanagh imagined and worked on before he started making cookie jars.
He lived in Germany during the oil embargo where the Hippo is called the Horse of the Nile --
and it inspired him to make Hippos -- sculptures of dressed, whimsical Hippos.
How Hippos turned into Cookie Jars.
Henry related that he and artist wife, Laura Wilensky, became active in
the Arts & Crafts circuit on the east coast, doing shows, exhibiting
in galleries, etc. At the time he was working on his sculptures and doing some
bronze work (his B.F.A. major was Bronze Casting).
John Baeder (famous for his realistic diner paintings) bought a piece of Laura's artwork
and became friends with the Cavanaghs. This inspired Henry to make Baeder a ceramic piece as a gift --a personalized butter dish.
It was in the shape of a diner and was named Baeder's Diner (complete with palatte and paintbrush).
With no intention of selling it, Henry put out on a shelf before giving to it to Baeder. When people
saw it, they wanted it. Henry says "Suddenly I was in the diner business!"
14"w x 9"h x 7"d
$400.As they followed the Arts & Crafts shows, he became friends with Glen Appleman also doing the circuit and selling his automobile jars.
Meanwhile Henry started to make Diner Cookie Jars -- they got larger and larger!
They soon became about the size of an Appleman car. Appleman
eventually quit working in ceramics, moved to
France and worked with computer programs. Since Appleman was no longer at the Arts & Crafts shows,
people started confusing Cavanagh with Appleman, asking "Why did he (Cavanagh) stop doing cars"?
Diners turned into Cars?
Henry says, "I was correcting them all the time, but they still confused us, without me ever doing a car. Since I was
always getting asked about 'my' car jars, I finally did a few prototypes. As a friend and fellow artist of Appleman
I certainly did not want to infringe on his designs or have my art work confused with his. I checked the copyright information and made sure I was not copying his works".
Henry has done several different molds,
the diners, delivery trucks, and now cars with whimsical dogs.
Each individual version of his jars is limited. And since each jar is made by hand, he can personalize
the jar to fit the buyer. For instance "Dad's Ice Cream Truck" or any name a buyer might want. He even
does a Kosher Ice Cream truck complete with a Hebrew decal. When enough people request a particular
"brand", e.g. Good Humors, it becomes a standard by itself and a parallel numbering system is created.
The Good Humors truck was very popular and Henry eventually created another edition of it changing the colors
around.
What's New?
His most recent jars are cars with dogs in them. These can be either "generic" dogs or
personalized to a fit a person's pets. Laura does the dogs and they are then fitted into the car. The car is also
available in different colors.
He no longer makes the Diner cookie jars, but still makes go-withs.
Brownstone and Diner teapots, sugar and creamers, dinner butter dishes are
in their lines. Each item is individually done and
many can be personalized.
Laura does salt and pepper shakers of the portrait dogs and cats. Henry said they are really hilarious
and are a big hit at the shows.
14"w x 9"h x 7"d
$450 - $500
Looking Ahead
Henry said he is exploring different venues for his art work and making it available to
more people. He's always been an
"exclusive operation", but that
exclusivity makes an item both rare and expensive. "My business is like trying to
repair an airplane in flight, it's sometime hard to stop what you are doing to look to the future."
To find out more about his work or to order a jar, Henry can be contacted through his web site shown below.
Resources:
Henry Cavanagh's Web Site
