Folly cove designers

A group of artists in the Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts area, committed to the Arts and Crafts Movement and the philosophies of Virginia Lee Burton Demetrios, who taught a design course, beginning 1938, in Folly Cove in north Gloucester. Her theory was that the world was a beautiful place and that combining expression of fine art for utilitarian objects within the home was a worthy goal. She taught block printing designs based on the crafting of designs from nature to mirror what she perceived as rules of nature---dark and light, sizing, repetition and reflection. On completing the course, students were invited to submit a design carved in linoleum, and if it was accepted, it was marketed as a Folly Cove Design. The first exhibition of Folly Cove Designs was in 1940 in the Demetrious studio, and in 1941, the decision was made to create a formal entity called Folly Cove Designers. Folly Cove Designs then were distributed by the American Crafts and Cooperative Council. By 1945, Lord and Taylor Company bought exclusive rights to five of the designs for their department stores. In 1948, the Designers opened ???The Barn??? in Folly Cove for summer sales, but the following year, the organization dissolved. Other artists associated with the Folly Cove Designers were Ida Bruno, George Demetrios and Mabel Greer. Source: Courtesy Sandi Brockway, http://www.sarah-elizabeth-shop.com/background/follycovedesigners.shtml