From

I was fortunate to get to know and admire Jane Bennison, daughter of Vernon Kilns president Faye Bennison, and so:

On Monday January 15, 2001 Jane Bennison Howell died in San Pedro, California, at the age of 88. Jane, who studied with Glen Lukens at the University of Southern California, worked at Vernon Kilns for several years in the late 1930's during which time the company produced a number of her distinctive designs. Jane's family has requested that tax-deductible donations in her name be made to: Museum of California Design, P.O. Box. 361730, Los Angeles, California.

More information about Jane Bennison and Vernon Kilns will be found in "California Pottery: From Missions to Modernism" by Bill Stern, photographs by Peter Brenner, to be published in July, 2001 by Chronicle Books.

The MUSEUM OF CALIFORNIA DESIGN is the first institution dedicated exclusively to documenting California's role as a major American design center. Until the museum has a permanent exhibition site, MOCAD curators will mount exhibitions of commercially produced California- designed and California-made objects -- in clay, wood, glass, fiber, paper, metal, plastic and other materials -- which will travel to museums and other venues across the country. This will allow MOCAD to fulfill its goal of demonstrating how California design has reflected - and often led - our country's cultural and economic development. More information is available at: www.mocad.org.
-- Bill Stern, Executive Director