Pots and People

A new course this Fall semester was Pots and People, taught by Dr. Kathleen Allen and assisted by Jean- Luc Houle. As part of the course, students researched a particular style of vessel produced in some part of the world in prehistoric or historic times. They then identified the steps needed in order to reproduce the vessel. Then they followed these steps to make the vessel!

All vessels were manufactured using handbuilding techniques, either coiling or pinching. Some vessels were thinned using paddle and anvil; some were smoothed and polished with a stone. Decorative techniques include incising, carving, and impressing. Some vessels were covered with a slip of terra sigillata and polished. Iron oxide was used in some cases resulting in the red color apparent on some of the vessels.

Vessels were bisque fired at cone 012 at Fireborn Studio on the Southside prior to final firing. Most of these vessels, with two exceptions, were smoke fired in an above ground, brick enclosure on November 8th, 2003. Fuel was aspen wood shavings and the fire lasted for about eight hours. The Lenape pot on the top shelf was not bisque fired but was fired in an open fire on the same day. The wedding vase on the lower right is in the bone dry stage and has not been bisque or smoke fired.

An important component of this course involved the experimental analysis of clay tiles produced by altering one variable. This part of the course was aimed at developing student skills in analyzing pottery as an archaeologist would. Those variables that were considered included type and amount of temper (10 to 40% of sand, fine grog, and coarse grog), forming methods (including pinching and coiling), finishing techniques (including smoothing, polishing, and burnishing), and drying times. Tiles were constructed with a particular experiment in mind, fired in an open fire, and then analyzed by the individual experimenter as well as the class as a whole. Students wrote papers on their experimental design, the results they obtained, and their analyses of all of the tiles.

Many thanks to Associate Dean Patricia Beeson of the College of Arts and Sciences, and to Dr. R. D. Drennan and the Anthropology Department for their financial support for this course; to Dr. Rich Scaglion for providing space for the exhibit; to Dr. Mark Mooney for providing a place for the firing; and to Gloria Pollack, Jimmy Clark, Clint Swink, and the many other teachers and colleagues who shaped my ceramic skills.