Niederkorn Silver Recognizes Women’s History Month With a Tribute to Women In Silver:

Published by Gary Niederkorn in General · Sunday 18 Mar 2018
Tags: clara, barck, welles, arts, and, crafts, silver, kalo, chicago, park, ridge, suffragette, handwrought, handmade

Clara Barck Welles (1868 – 1965)

[image:image-0]The Arts and Crafts movement developed in England around 1880 and spread through Europe and the United States. Rejecting the industrialization of the decorative arts and proliferation of extraneous ornamentation, followers of the Arts and Crafts movement sought to return to handmade objects of quality and restrained ornamentation. In tangent to Arts and Crafts as an esthetic movement was the socialist ideals element of the movement that united artist and patrons and evolved communities that adhered to socialist philosophies. Arts and Crafts practitioners and communities sprang up all around the United States, but Chicago, Illinois was among the major enclaves of the American Arts and Crafts movement. It was in Chicago that one of the best known and most successful Arts and Crafts studios emerged, The Kalo Shop.

The Kalo Shop was started in Park Ridge, Illinois, by Clara Barck Welles (Clara P. Barck, then), Bertha Hall, Rose Dolese, Grace Gerow, Ruth Raymond, and Bessie McNeal in 1900. The shop first produced pyrography wood and tooled leather items. The Kalo Shop originally hired women that became known as the “Kalo Girls”, offering them better pay and working conditions than were typically found in industrial manufacturing at the time. It was Clara Barck Welles’ husband, George S. Welles – an amateur silversmith himself -- that encouraged Clara to introduce metal wares into Kalo’s production. When the Kalo Shop moved to Chicago, after Clara and George’s divorce in 1914, Clara focused only on copper and silver ware. The Kalo Shop produced flatware, hollowware and jewelry chiefly designed by Clara Barck Welles. Clara guided the crafters (which now included both men and women) toward a high standard of perfection. Would be crafts persons sought out The Kalo Shop to train at silversmithing. With Clara at the helm, The [image:image-9]Kalo Shop developed a devoted patronage that helped the business thrive.

Clara Barck Welles, a successful independent business woman, became an influential figure in Chicago. She lectured on silversmithing and spoke on women’s rights; and as a suffragist herself, Clara helped raised funds for the Illinois women’s suffragette movement. Quinfoil Coaster Tray by Kalo (circa 1914)

[image:image-4] In 1940 Clara Barck Welles retired leaving The Kalo Shop to her employees, Yngve Olsson, Robert R. Bower, Arne Myhre and Daniel P. Pederson. The Kalo Shop continued to produce her designs long after her retirement. The Kalo Shop closed its doors in 1970 when it could no longer acquire sufficiently skilled silversmiths capable of meet the high standards required by The Kalo Shop.

Bracelet by Kalo, Mid- 20th Century

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