Charles Fergus Binns

Charles Fergus Binns (4 October 1857 in Worcester – 4 December 1934 in Alfred, New York) was an English-born studio potter.

Some of his more notable students included Arthur Eugene Baggs,[1] William Victor Bragdon,[2] R. Guy Cowan,[1] Maija Grotell,[1] Elizabeth Overbeck,[2] and Adelaide Alsop Robineau.

[3] Charles Fergus Binns was born on October 4, 1857, in Worcester, England, the seventh of ten children.

Because of his background in both art and chemistry, and his growing reputation and a scholar and lecturer, Binns was the ideal person to lead this new school.

He argued that “no-one with a spark of artistic fire can be content to copy the design of another or to merely add the finishing touches to work begun in a factory”, and that this feeling has caused china-painting to give place to pottery-making, in which, from “the consciousness of honest effort”, the artist experiences liberation.

[7] As a critic and influential educator in the ceramic field, his praise of utilitarian wares with artistic quality led the Arts and Crafts movement in American studio pottery.

Among these was The Story of the Potter published by George Newnes in 1901, prior to his position at as director of the New York State School of Clayworking and Ceramics.