Husband and wife team Rolland (1909-1996) and Luke (1906-2000) Lietzke produced ceramics together for 30 – 40 years. They showed their works at their personal gallery, which was attached to their studio in Mogadore, Ohio. In 1996 Rolland died. At eighty-eight years of age, Luke no longer has the desire to produce ceramics.

Luke was an art major at Michigan State University and completed postgraduate work at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rolland also graduated from Michigan State University and did postgraduate work at Woodstock and Traphagen Schools of Design, New York. Luke was the Curator of Design (1946-1964) at the Akron Art Museum and Rolland was a textile designer in New York and later was in charge of design and development for major rubber companies in Akron.

“We are designers by nature and training. We evolved, with dedication, in the Bauhaus influence period. Before our introduction to porcelain, clay had had no appeal for us. Porcelain expressed the potential for the possible clean, crisp forms we wished to express," stated the Lietzkes during an interview in 1984.

Credit: Canton Museum of Art