Featured Design and Artists

Catawba Indian Pottery

One area that southernpots.com will explore in the upcoming months will focus on the Catawba Pottery tradition. There will always be a unique example available for purchase. But we will explore additional potters and examples of their work in this area of the website.

The Catawba Indian pottery predates the founding of America in 1776. This legacy of open pit-fired coil-formed pots has a great tradition and history. As with other pottery traditions, signed and dated pieces are rather exceptional, only beginning circa 1930. And most pottery was not signed and/or dated until the revival of the Catawba pottery in the 1970’s. Dozens of Catawba potters still create their pots for gifts and sale to the public and/or institutions, working at it almost exclusively part-time.

Monumental works by the Catawba no doubt rival other pottery traditions that can be found in the southwestern United States. Due to a variety of reasons, the recognition has yet to rise to that level. Hence, entry level pieces can be bought reasonably and even recently deceased potters can be collected by the budding pottery aficionado.

Master Potter Keith Brown

Included in the slideshow above is a 4-stem peace pipe by Master Potter Doris Wheelock Blue (1905 - 1985). Decorated very delicately with this incised patterns, this is a very fine example of the works she created throughout her life on the Catawba Indian Reservation near Rock Hill, SC. In the 1970's - 1980's she also potted larger forms such as snake bowls. Signed pieces date from the 1960's onward. Her daughter Mildred (1922-1997) continued the family tradition of pottery, including the making of effigy forms. Doris' pieces have been actively collected by the museums in the Carolinas. The black and brighter whitish gray are her trademark.

To the left is photo of Master Potter Keith Brown (born 1951) as he formed his first Rebecca Pitcher in August 2007. This was created as a special commission of works for the Medical University of SC in Charleston. Keith began to pot about two decades ago and within that time he been recognized quickly as one of the 4 - 5 living Master Potters of the Catawba.

Wilkes County, NC Pottery

An area of the North Carolina that is greatly neglected in the knowledge base is the northwest section, centered around Wilkes County. Salt glaze in a manner similar to that of eastern Tennessee or southwest Virginia was the preferred glaze of WW and CC Ballard, Eli Sebastian, and JW Carpenter. Later on the Kennedy family of potters, specifically Bulo J. (BJ) Kennedy, founded Kennedy pottery in 1896 in Wilkesboro, initially embracing alkaline glaze. He would employ other methods later on.

Wax Sealer Jar

His son Ray Kennedy continued to operate the pottery until he closed it in 1968. The use of alkaline glaze by the Kennedy family in the early 20th century confuses many budding alkaline NC collectors who are led to believe that most all alkaline glaze pottery was created in the Catawba Valley. In reality, pieces may be from Wilkes County or made their way from upstate SC (or other regions in Georgia and Alabama. Unsigned flower pots were one of the biggest sources of revenue at Kennedy.

The wax sealer jar pictured was turned at Kennedy Pottery, a form fairly unique to Kennedy within the North Carolina tradition. The wax sealer was made by plenty of northern potteries. In this piece, one can note the green or alkaline glaze and the blue rutile, a mineral that appears during the firing of certain Catawba Valley (and Wilkes County) clays. Glaze skips on the upper edge of the jar lip are very common, possibly due to stacking or to the volume production nature of the operation.

In upcoming months we will feature other works, signed and unsigned, to further discuss the nature of Wilkes County pottery.