Leather and Plastics

The 19th century was the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. Zaddock Pratt, founder of the town of Prattsville, made his riches off of expediting the tanning process and increasing the production of tanned hides that were transformed into leather goods.

 The Zadock Pratt Museum is using leather products from its archives to look at the ubiquity of leather goods and their production at the time of Pratt. The leather industry was a global endeavor and brought in hides from as far as Argentina, which passed through New York City and made their way up the Hudson and into the mountains. Here water was redirected, hemlocks were felled and workers were brought in, all in support of the leather industry.

Five contemporary artists will be responding to objects owned by Zadock Pratt and tradesmen of his time, housed in the museum, asking us to make the connection between past industrialization and the present moment of global commerce. Many leather products are now substituted with plastic and other artificial ingredients, these artists play with the implications that this shift in material use provides. The invited artists are Em Rooney, Hugo Montoya, Amanda Pohan, Linnea Gad, and Catherine Telford-Keogh.