Pots By Enslaved Artist David Drake Returned to Family from Milwaukee Art Museum

Two stoneware pots were returned to descendants of the enslaved artist David Drakeearlier this month, when the Milwaukee Art Museum brokered a deal with the Dave the Potter Legacy Trust. After the repatriation, one of the pots was bought back by the museum, and the other will soon be on display by way of a long-term loan.

As reported by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Drake’s work first entered the museum in 2010, when the Chipstone Foundation mounted an exhibition that featured Drake’s vessels alongside work by Chicago-based sculptural artist Theaster Gates. People were fascinated by Drake’s objects, which led the foundation to develop programming that unearthed the meaning of Drake’s work and his legacy for communities across the city.”

Three years later, the Chipstone Foundation—a Wisconsin-based enterprise dedicated to “American material culture,” with an emphasis on the decorative arts—bought two pots by Drake, whose work has since been displayed in the Milwaukee Art Museum as part of the Dave Project, a collaboration with the foundation.

Yaba Baker, Drake’s fourth-generation great-grandson, told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “We believe it is important that people continue to be inspired by his unwavering perseverance in life and the brilliance that it took to create these amazing pieces of art. By keeping both works on view in Milwaukee, we know that his legacy and lineage will remain accessible to the public for years to come.”

Of the Dave the Potter Legacy Trust, Kantara Souffrant, the Milwaukee Art Museum’s curator of community dialogue, said, “[Their work] is so invested in the idea of what it means to be a person who’s descended from enslaved people, who is able to see these objects as a way of really, truly gathering your family, family you didn’t know.”