Have a ball in Brockton

Wheel vase, blue, purple, and opalescent white glaze, by Thomas Bezanson, a Benedectine monk, in his show "Brother Thomas: Seeking the Sublime,'' at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Mass. The show includes a range of his pottery, from tea bowls to vases.

 

Brockton in the late 19th Century and the first part of the 20th was one of the shoe-making capitals of the world. Eventually, however, most of its shoe companies closed or went south of abroad in search of cheap labor. The city has never fully recovered from this exit, although its proximity to the wealth of Boston has softened the blow.  Several  local cultural institutions, such as the Fuller, were founded by shoe moguls. The museum is in a surprisingly lovely park setting, whatever Brockton's gritty reputation.

One of the Brockton area's many shoe factories in 1910.