2000 MARGARET FURLONG Christmas MILLENNIUM ANGEL Porcelain Bisque Ornament 3”      

I must sell my collection of Margaret Furlong items as I must downsize at my age. 

I have information about Margaret at the bottom of the listing if you are interested in how she started the Angels.

Item: Margaret Furlong Millennium Christmas Angel

           Ornament

Brand: Margaret Furlong

Type: Handcrafted

Retired: Yes - 2000

Dated on Back: Margaret Furlong & 2000 is on back

Measurement: This is considered the 3” angel and

                         measures 3” W, 3” H

Artist: Margaret Furlong

Material: Porcelain Bisque

Color: White

Made In: USA (Lincoln Nebraska and/or Salem Oregon)

Original Box: Yes

Misc.: This included the original stand that is in the photo.

Condition: The ornament and box would be in mint condition but there is a tiny 1/16” chip on the back on the side. It can’t be seen from the front. It came from the factory that way because I have never taken the angel out until I took the photos. This has been safely packed away until now. Please see the enlarged photos to see how nice it is after all these years.

Buy with confidence. Please take time to check my feedback.

I will pack your item with care.

International Buyers - Please Note:

Import duties, taxes, charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility. Please check with your country’s customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding or buying.

Plan ahead and get your shopping done early.

Think holiday gifts for someone special or for yourself for… Christmas... Birthday... Anniversary... Halloween... Etc

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 Margaret Furlong Webb Page

In 1977, I designed a 3” white bisque shell angel. This was quite a departure from the themes I was pursuing in my sculpture or painting. I had, in fact, just finished a series of white porcelain “Snowscapes.” These “Snowscapes” were visual journals to celebrate my experiences in the winter landscapes of Nebraska. I used large thin slabs of white porcelain with incorporated nylon fibers to give the clay body a fabric-like working quality. I draped these “cloths of porcelain” over forms and added more porcelain textures and shapes creating images of snow-covered furrows, hills, haystacks, hay bales, and fence rows to celebrate exquisite landscapes after a fresh snowfall.

I can still vividly remember being surrounded with dazzling light as I drove down a country road in the morning when the snowfall was pristine and untouched by the presence of man. The low angle of the morning sun made the snow sparkle and dance with white light and the long shadows defined the snow-softened forms. Everything was clean and soft and still. It was as if God had opened up heaven so that for a moment one could touch eternity. After firing these sheets of porcelain, I would arrange the largely unglazed forms, truly frozen in time, on tall bases of clear Plexiglas.

In addition to these landscape pieces, I was also working on a commission using shells as subject matter for a set of dishes. The casts of the shells were strewn all over the table in my studio and I began pressing porcelain into these beautiful forms. I was completely charmed by these vestiges of the homes of sea creatures now long gone. Their surfaces were embellished with rhythmic patterns that seemed to echo the movement of the sea. The white porcelain forms I pressed were exact three-dimensional impressions, only the beautiful colors were lost. To my great delight, the magical effect of the moist porcelain revealed the exquisitely chiseled surface undulations without the distractions of color or pattern, like a fresh snowfall on a landscape. These images took on a simple sculptural beauty that I found irresistibly elegant. I knew I had found a visual vocabulary that I could call my own in shells and sea images striped down to pure form in white unglazed porcelain.

My next project was the designing and making of a series of shell angels. This was not a logical or characteristic move for me. First of all, angels in 1977 were not considered legitimate subject matter for an “artist,” but rather for little old ladies to crochet. Second, angels were also not popular in the commercial marketplace. And in addition to this, unglazed porcelain was not even found in the US marketplace. This was a medium of simplicity and understatement reserved almost solely for sculptors.

In the late 70’s, most everything in the American marketplace was bright and colorful; or at the least covered with a shinny glaze or trimmed in gold. Despite the commercial odds against me and the real possibility of strong disapproval from my artistic peers, I pursued my vision of handmade, unglazed porcelain shell angels. I had confidence in the American consumer that many, like me, were looking for iconic images of simple sculptural beauty to decorate their Christmas trees and display in their homes year round. I really didn’t feel very brave about it, I just felt right about it.

I had wanted to start a business because I needed to earn a living. After a year on an artist’s salary, preceded by eight years of life as a student, I was ready to change my lifestyle and stabilize my income. In addition to this and of much greater impact and importance, I had most recently met Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. I wanted to make the focus and products of my business such that I would honor God with the work of my hands and bless those who purchased my work.

So with this business plan in mind and a commitment to excellence and good value for my customers, I sat down in my studio to design a “shell angel” and in just a few hours completed the design of my first angel, “The Trumpeter.” Truly this design was a gift to me.

In an interview several years later, when asked what each of my angels would say if they could talk, my answer was and continues to be, “Hark the Herald Angels sing, GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING.”

This information is from The Hixson-Leid College of Fine And Performing Arts.  School of Art, Art History and Design Arts at the University of Nebraska’s web site.

MFA, 1976

During the time Margaret Furlong was enrolled at the University of Nebraska, her work in ceramics and watercolor was accepted in numerous local and regional exhibitions. She was a 1973 recipient of the Vreeland Award. Her work is also included in the permanent collection of the Sheldon Museum of Art.

Since receiving her Master's Degree in Fine Arts in 1976, Margaret Furlong has become a ceramics artist of national renown. Best known for her porcelain angels, which she designed and first manufactured at her studio in Lincoln soon after graduation, she now is the owner and president of Margaret Furlong Designs. The company produces porcelain giftware and has a factory in Salem, Oregon, that employs about 50 people.

Her porcelains are marketed nationally and have been mentioned in numerous magazine articles.