82:. Semi-subterranean in construction, the groundhog kiln featured a door leading into a long, low passage of brick or rock construction, with a stack or chimney poking out of the ground uphill. Ware was loaded in the low passageway or "ware-bed" and the fire was built in a sunken firebox located just inside the door. The design allowed the stack to draw heated air, flames, and ash through the pottery grouped inside and created the draft needed to generate the intense heat required to create stoneware. This type of firing or "burning" worked particularly well with large pieces of pottery. Variations of these kilns, usually referred to as "tunnel kilns," are used by modern potters in Catawba Valley and other pottery regions in the American southeast.
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71:. Catawba Valley potters chose alkaline glazes over salt glaze, the predominant stoneware glaze used in America at the time. Potters enjoyed an abundance of wood ash from burning their kilns while salt deposits were not very plentiful in the Carolinas. Furthermore, salt was especially expensive during and after the Civil War.
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In 1981 Charles Lisk and his family moved to Vale and developed a friendship with his neighbor Burlon Craig who shared with him the techniques of the
Catawba Valley pottery tradition. Lisk built his own groundhog kiln and began making alkaline glazed stoneware. He makes a variety of wares including
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At the turn of the 20th century, the food industry began to rely increasingly on glass and canned food storage along with refrigeration. These innovations brought about a severe decline of the utilitarian pottery industry nationwide, including the pottery community in
Catawba Valley. Potters who
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From the earliest known product, stoneware made in the
Catawba Valley has been alkaline glazed. Alkaline glazes are made by combining hardwood ash or crushed glass with clay and water. Alkaline glazed stoneware takes on a brown or green color once fired in the
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An early recorded pottery in the
Catawba Valley was operated by Daniel Seagle (ca.1805-1867) of Lincoln County. After Seagle's death, the pottery was operated by his son and various apprentices into the 1890s.
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Other notable potteries of the 19th and early 20th centuries included those operated by the
Hartzogs, the Hilton family, and brothers Harvey Ford Reinhardt and Enoch William Alexander Reinhardt.
129:. The pottery operation included a groundhog kiln and fully equipped shop. His pottery was featured in several publications and in 1981 examples of his work were added to the
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chose to continue the craft had to rely on tourism and an interest in handmade crafts fostered by the
American
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and learned to make pottery as a teenager. When Craig returned from service in the Navy following
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The alkaline glazed ware was initially fired in what are known as "
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from the early 19th century, as well as certain contemporary
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made in the region utilizing traditional methods and forms.
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Alkaline glazed 4 gallon jar. Catawba Valley. C.1875
250:Catawba Valley Pottery - History and Illustrations
27:describes alkaline glazed stoneware made in the
94:Burlon Craig Swirl Ware. Catawba Valley. C.2000
145:the traditional swirl pottery and face jugs.
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150:Reinhardt-Craig House, Kiln and Pottery Shop
113:Burlon B. Craig (ca. 1914-2002) was born in
102:Charles Lisk Face Jug. Catawba Valley. 2004
195:"Catawba Pottery | Catawba Indian Nation"
42:The earliest Catawba Valley pottery was
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224:"National Register Information System"
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229:National Register of Historic Places
154:National Register of Historic Places
133:collection. In 1984 he received the
255:Contemporary Catawba Valley Pottery
123:Reinhardt farm and pottery complex
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135:National Endowment for the Arts
115:Lincoln County, North Carolina
86:Modern Potters from the Region
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139:National Heritage Fellowship
260:NEA Profile of Burlon Craig
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62:Glazing and firing methods
56:Arts and Crafts movement
31:River Valley of Western
131:Smithsonian Institution
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25:Catawba Valley Pottery
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234:National Park Service
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127:Vale, North Carolina
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199:catawbaindian.net
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275:American pottery
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166:Anagama kiln
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46:made by the
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44:earthenware
269:Categories
209:2018-02-23
182:References
156:in 2008.
160:See also
176:Pottery
80:anagama
37:pottery
29:Catawba
280:Kilns
148:The
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