Description:
Octagonal tray with short sides with a decorative painting of a basket of flowers on the front in gold, red, and green paint on a black ground in the center. The sides are decorated with gold paint in a basket weave or cross hatch design alternating with a gold field with a floral sprig. The paper label on the back of tray reads: "Deerfield Industries" with the ink inscription of "K. F. Arms" (for Katherine Fuller Arms); the printed label shows of window with a lighted candlestick and a village view beyond the window. According to a memo from Donald Friary, December 18, 2002, "the painted tin tray by Katherine Fuller Arms (1891-1985) was a wedding gift to Elizabeth "Lib" Shaw Williams and Robert "Bob" Williams in 1940 and presumably was new then. Katherine Yale (Fuller) Arms, the daughter of Mary and George Spencer Fuller, had an extended tenure working in the Deerfield Arts and Crafts. In 1912 she attended the Workshop for Painted Decoration in Boston, where she taught "tray painting and chair decorating," Returning to Deerfield in 1914, she opened a shop in a corn barn behind the 1761 John Patridge Bull House that her mother had inherited. She taught tray painting and chair painting, and became a member of Deerfield Industries. Affected by the war, she pursued a degree in nursing, and worked as a nurse until marrying Richard Arms in 1927 and starting a family. She continued to take on decorative work. Arms exhibited her tinware and furniture at the Indian House Memorial in 1936. From 1939 to 1941 she served as Vice President of Deerfield Industries and was a charter member of the Deerfield Valley Art Association.
Label Text:
Tray, Katharine Fuller Arms (1891-1985), Deerfield, Massachusetts, c. 1940. Paper label on back of tray reads “DEERFIELD INDUSTRIES” and ink inscription “K.F. Arms.” Tinned sheet iron, oil paints, and varnish. Hall and Kate Peterson Fund for Minor Antiques, 2002.70.6 Katharine Fuller Arms was involved in Deerfield’s Arts and Crafts community for most of her lifetime. In 1912, she attended the Workshop for Painted Decoration in Boston, where she was taught “tray painting and chair decorating.” Two years later she returned to Deerfield and opened a shop in a barn behind the John Partridge Bull House, where she sold pieces and taught decorative painting. She became a long-standing member of Deerfield Industries, and the group’s vice president from 1939 to 1941. This tray was a wedding gift to Elizabeth Shaw Williams and Robert Williams in 1940.
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