By: Laura Silvernail
Red colored clay stands out from the among the edges of the water, surrounded by trees. Chunks of the ground are still missing today in areas where, 100 years ago, dynamite was used to loosen that valuable red soil in Perry County.
Allen Ham’s grandfather used this site, which they called “The Clay Hole”, for his wares. It is still in use today by Ham and a few other potters in Perry County, Alabama. Ham said, in the “Journey Proud: Alabama Pottery Documentary”, that modern potters use a bulldozer instead of dynamite.
Ham’s ancestors moved to Perry County from Randolph County back in the 1850s. Much like the potters of that day, pottery was seen as a trade that created essential materials for everyday life. Families needed pottery such as chamber pots, churns, jugs and storage jars.
Alabama’s rich history in pottery has been explored extensively by Joey Brackner, author of “Alabama Folk Pottery.” This tradition evolved over the centuries from an essential trade to an artform that in its tactile nature is essential to some who practice it.
The First People
In Mobile, Alabama, Native Americans first began mixing clay with plant fibers, according to “History at Home” provided by the History Museum of Mobile, to make pinch pots, until they learned to use sand to make their pots more durable.
The Native Americans would decorate their pots using seashells, sticks and their fingers and bury them with their dead in mounds. Bottle Creek is a site in Mobile, Alabama, where many pieces of pottery have been found near the mounds.
Once the settlers from Europe came over, they introduced the use of kilns. Potter’s wheels, and glazes, which made their work waterproof. This made the Indian earthenware obsolete since it was not watertight and more breakable.
When tribes like the Creek Indians were removed from Alabama in the 1830s, there was a flood of settlers from places in Georgia and South Carolina, many of them being potters.
Early Settlers
In the early 19th Century, potters settled all over Alabama in regions such as Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Marion, Gardendale and Elmore County. Some of these places were named after their abundance of potters but later changed. Gardendale is stills sometimes referred to as “Jugtown” on some maps. Elmore County was once called “Pottersville”, according to "Alabama Folk Pottery” by Brackner.
“They came in and they settled where good pottery clay is located. Alabama is blessed. It’s one of the most blessed states with clay that's useful for industry tile making, brick making, pottery making. All of that is found in Alabama and is what makes Alabama different from a lot of the other states,” Brackner said in an interview.
During this time, pottery was seen as a trade like blacksmithing. Occasionally if a potter’s family was wealthy, slaves would also be making pottery by their side.
One example of this is David Drake of South Carolina, commonly referred to as “Dave the Slave.” He was an African American potter who is famous for his large pots. One pot can be found at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, stretching to about 20 inches tall with a poem on the side along with his signature.
As technology advanced over time, there became less of a need for handmade pots, and some families moved on to other trades. However, there are still a few generational potters around like the Millers and Hams in Perry County.
Glaze Tradition
A brown, two-handled pot sits with its glaze glossed over it like icing on a cake. The alkaline glaze appears like rain drops on a window, the feature of the glaze commonly referred to as “tobacco spit”, according to Brackner’s book “Alabama Folk Pottery.”
Alkaline glazing was one of the first processes used by early folk potters. Potters shared a love-hate relationships with this glaze because it was cheap to make, but it was temperamental when fired and could corrode their skin off their hands.
Salt glazing, which migrated from Europe to Alabama, is distinctly different from other glazes. Instead of taking a vessel and dipping it in a glaze, like alkaline, potters would throw salt into the kiln as it fired.
This glaze is transparent but frequently mixed with Albany-slipped pottery, which creates a green color referred to as “frog skin.” Later in 1900s, “store bought” white glazes rose in popularity.
Pottery Education
After World War II, changes negated the use of certain vessels like chamber pots, churns and storage jars. This meant many potters could not make enough to sustain themselves, so traditional pottery education diminished.
In the 1900s, pottery education made its way into universities and community centers. Most modern-day potters have been trained at universities. This is where pottery shifted from a trade into a major artform.
Glazes became more vibrant and colorful, and people chose pottery instead of being born into it. For example, many people have flocked to the Dean Road Ceramics studio in Auburn to learn how to make pottery.
Amy Kaiser, the tech at Dean Road, found a love for the artform after her kids went off to public school. Kaiser said she has found similarities between clay and fabric.
“You can do all sorts of things with clay that can replicate fabric, except you know you can't crawl under it in bed,” Kaiser said. “Then there's a lot of I think replication with especially hand building work, but I just love the wheel. I like things that are symmetrical.”
For some, the tactile nature of clay and the use of their hands is almost like a type of therapy. Jana Jennings, local Auburn potter and teacher at the Dean Road Ceramics studio, has found that to be the case.
Jennings said she considers her teaching a success when “It becomes therapy for anybody else. Any way that I could help facilitate mental health…especially through art that’s amazing. Just 'cause I know what it's done for me.” Jennings said
Differences in Folk Pottery and Modern Pottery
Since the shift from trade to artform many things about pottery itself have changed. This includes small details about the forms as well as parts of the pottery process.
One of the major differences in the process is that, in the past, potters did not use a bisque-firing. A bisque-firing is now a common practice of firing greenware without glaze to get the object to a porous state for glazing.
Brackner said that old-fashioned potters would glaze their work as greenware and only perform one firing, crossing their fingers or praying for good results.
Glazes have also changed since the green and browns of the past. Now glazes come in all different colors and can be bought commercially or made by hand.
One common practice among modern potters is to sign the bottoms of their work either by etching or using a stamp. In the past, signing work was not as common, but when work was signed it was on the side or towards the tops of the vessels.
Some folk potters would write poems on their work. David Drake, for example, would include poems or a Bible verse on his work.
Where are they now
Pieces of pottery lined up on a fence one by one knocked off by lead from a shotgun. Unfortunately, this scene can happen as many vessels are ignored or destroyed because people might not know their significance.
At the home of former Auburn University pottery professor Barry Fleming, old pots sit lined up in front of the fireplace and on various wooden cabinets. The vessels sit underneath many painted tin works of art by R.A. Miller, depicting the “preacher.”
Fleming took a special interest in the history of Alabama pottery around the time Brackner did. Fleming said he figured out the significance of Alabama pottery early on so he was able to collect more vessels before all the “wealthy” collectors did.
“This is has Albany slip. It’s flattering, it’s shinier,” Fleming said showing off one of his pots in his home in Auburn. “It might have been a little mixed here, like half and half. They weren't gonna waste anything, you know, so you would get these unusual things.”
Fleming said people now understand how much the pottery is worth, so it is harder for him to find pieces without getting outbid at auctions.
Conclusion
Pottery has come a long way since it was a trade. Now it provides a calming activity for some, therapy for others and an avenue of expression.
Many artists discovered a love for the functionality of pieces while also expressing themselves through their vessels. A great example of this is artist Catie Daniel. Daniel has put meaning into her mugs and pots by highlighting the “mundane.”
She has put an emphasis on things in her everyday life, like toys her children have left out. For some of her pots, Daniel took one of her son’s toy trucks and used the tire to make a texture, exaggerated by black underglaze.
“I want people to have art in their kitchens. I want them to use my work. I want it to kind of brighten the everyday mundane things we do like make coffee,” Daniel said. “For me sometimes I like throwing just these basic forms and selling them for a little bit less because I want people to connect with handmade things, and I want to make it accessible.”
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