Is Nemadji Pottery Calling You?

 

QUESTION: On a trip out West I traveled through southern Colorado. I stopped at an antique shop and saw a unique vase covered with swirls of what looked like colored paint. The dealer said the vase was an example of Nemadji pottery and that it had been made by Native Americans but wasn’t sure from what tribe. What can you tell me about my vase?

ANSWER: Nemadji pottery originated in the Arrowhead region of Minnesota and is touted to be Native American pottery. But there’s nothing Native American about it. In fact, some antiques dealers sell this pottery under the belief that it is Native American.

Nemadji pottery is unglazed rustic pottery with colorful swirled designs on the outside. No two piece look alike. They all have unique colors and come in a variety of forms. Reminiscent of ancient Indian pottery, it's not surprising the colorful swirl pots became one of America's hottest tourist collectibles.

Clayton James Dodge founded the Nemadji Tile and Pottery Company in Moose Lake, Minnesota, in 1923 to make Arts and Crafts ceramic tiles. He shipped its trademark "fire flash" earthenware tile made from regional clays by railroad to destinations across the country. During its peak years, the demand was so strong a crew of 30 men worked three shifts to produce the colorful tile for homes and churches. But the Stock Market Crash of 1929 put an end to sales.

Determined to ride out the Great Depression, Dodge developed an inexpensive tourist pottery that could be mass-produced and shipped from his Moose Lake factory. But to create it, he needed to find a master ceramist. That person was Eric Hellman, a Danish immigrant who had earned a bachelor's degree in ceramic engineering at the Technical Engineering Institute in Copenhagen. Hellman had previously worked at porcelain houses in Copenhagen and Meissen, Germany. But by the time he met Dodge, he had given up throwing pots for fear the clay dust would destroy his lungs. The promise of steady work and a paycheck changed that.

Within the year Hellman developed a line of hand-thrown pottery for Dodge using the colorful clays taken from the hanks of the Nemadji River northeast of Moose Lake. He created molds from these original pieces, then taught unskilled laborers to recreate them by the slip cast method. Hellman also introduced a "cold striped painting process," which gave Nemadji pottery its distinctive look as no two pots were alike.

To apply the paints, workers filled a galvanized wash-tub with water and a dash of vinegar. They then gently floated onto the water small droplets of oil-based enamel paint. By blowing gently across the paint, workers caused the droplets to merge creating colorful bands of paint. Blowing down into the middle of these floating bands created a circle of clear water into which a pot. was lowered by hand. When the blowing stopped the paint returned to the center of the tub. The worker then lifted the pot out with a twisting motion creating a swirl design.

 Pottery created between 1929 and 1972 was made with red to buff colored clays found near Moose Lake. Workers treated the interiors of these early pots with a quick swish of shellac, recycled from pot to pot, creating a beautiful patina. 

Once Hellman had created this unique pottery, he left the company. That's when Dodgers began promoting the pottery in earnest. He realized he had a good product but needed a hook to grab a share of the tourist market.

For that, Dodge sought to tie his pottery's to Minnesota's Indian Country. A practicing attorney, Dodge used his knowledge of the law and talents at creative writing to carefully create a legend describing the geology of Minnesota's Arrowhead region, its first primitive ancestors, and the remnants of ancient Native American pottery discovered there. While he never said Indians made Nemadji, Dodge drew a dotted line between the Ojibwa tribe and his pottery. And shopkeepers and tourists connected the dots.

The legend Dodge created went something like this .”The name "Nemadji" is the Ojibway word for “left-handed.” Nemadji pottery is made by skilled craftsmen whose deft hands throw pieces of clay on potters' wheels just as the Chinese centuries ago turned their pottery, which is today priceless. These craftsmen are under the three-thin of a skilled ceramist whose life has been spent in the production of pottery of an artistic type. Nemadji pottery expresses the soul of the Redman, who, though long since gone to the Happy Hunting Ground, still haunts our shores and woods."

Dodge had his legend printed on a pad of paper and sent with his pottery to trading posts and tourist stops, including the famed Wall Drug Store in South Dakota. When a pot sold, the shopkeeper tore a printed legend from the pad and gave it to the customer. Eager to purchase a small token of their trips to “Indian Country” and the Wild West, many tourists didn't hesitate to exchanged their nickels and quarters for a piece of Nemadji "Indian" Pottery with documentation of its noble history.

Since Nemadji sounded like an Native American tribal name, most people thought it was genuine Native American pottery. Dodge was clever enough say his pottery was “inspired” by Native American designs. And the tourists loved it. 

Dodge created rubber stamps to mark each pot. One of the earliest stamp marks features the image of a Native American arrowhead encircled by the words “Nemadji Pottery Moose Lake, Minnesota.“ Another early stamp reads handmade “Nemadji Indian Pottery from Native Clay.”

Most marks carry the words Nemadji Pottery or Nemadji Indian Pottery. Some are stamped with the words “Badlands Pottery of Nemadji Blackhills Pottery,.” used on pieces sold at Wall Drug in South Dakota during the 1930s and 1940s.

After 1950, pottery marks included the words Nemadji potting and the image of either an Indian head or an Indian in a canoe.

Over time, people misplaced the small pieces of paper from the pad and memories faded_ Eventually the owners of Nemadji referred to it simply as "Indian Pottery" and the Indian myth became reality.

But myths die hard, and today Nemadji pottery often appears for sale in antique stores and on the Internet as Indian-made, ancient Indian, or as rare Ojibwa pottery.

Legends aside, Nemadji commands moderate prices in the collectibles market. And as the interest in this true American tourist pottery increases, so do the prices. Small hand-thrown Nemadji pieces made by Eric Hellman in Moose Lake in the early 1930s have recently sold in the $100 range. Nemadji pottery produced before World War Il using red clays dug from the banks of the Nemadji River command prices ranging from $75 to $95.

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George Ohr—Just a Little Bit Eccentric

QUESTION: On a recent trip to New Orleans, I found and bought a quirky piece of art pottery in an antique shop. The dealer said it was by George Ohr, but I’ve never heard of him. I like the bizarre look this piece has and would like to find more. Can you tell me more about this potter?

ANSWER: George Ohr was a local potter that actually hailed from Biloxi, Mississippi. He was a real character and his personality definitely comes through in his pots.

In the early 1850s, Ohr’s parents moved to Biloxi, Mississippi, where his father opened the town’s first blacksmith shop. George worked with him and learned the trade. But when he was 18, Ohr left to seek his fortune in New Orleans.  There he worked at a ship chandler's shop for free room and board plus soap for washing. After three years, he was still getting free soap and only $15 per month. So he went back home to Biloxi where he worked as an apprentice in a file cutter's shop and in a tinker's shop.

Disenchanted with his situation, he returned to New Orleans to learn all he could about potting. As soon as he mastered enough technical skills, Ohr left and spent two years traveling to 16 states to observe other potters and their potteries.

He returned to Biloxi in 1883 with $26.80 with which he equipped his own pottery. He spent most of the money on bricks for his kiln. He did all his own work—digging the clay from a nearby riverbank, loading it in a wheelbarrow, and hauling it back to his shop, which he called the "POT-OHR-E." He called his creations "mud babies" and made over 600 pieces in his first  year. He exhibited some of them at the North Cotton Centennial Exposition, but someone stole them.


On Sept. 15, 1886 Ohr married Josephine Gehring of New Orleans. They had 10 children, but the first two died very young. To support his family, he began selling novelty pottery and souvenir items, such as flowerpots, ceramic hats, children's banks and plaques of Southern buildings at local fairs. He once said that if it weren’t for the housewives of Biloxi who have a constant need of flowerpots, water coolers and flues, the Ohr family would go hungry. Ohr hated to part with his "mud baby" creations, so he put high prices on his best works to see what the market would bear.



It didn't take Ohr long to get the reputation of being just a little bit eccentric. People began calling him “the made potter from Biloxi.” This was in part due to his bizarre appearance. Ohr had long hair that he knotted on top of his head with a brass pin and a long beard that was usually tucked into his shirt to keep it from getting caught in the potter's wheel. He often made a public spectacle of himself—from boasting about his artistic talents to zooming down the street on his bicycle with his 18-inch-long mustache tucked behind his ears. Ohr admitted that he acted "crazy" to attract tourists to his shop.

Although Ohr won a medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, he became disillusioned with the pottery business because he didn't think people appreciated his work. So he abruptly closed his pottery in 1906 and became a motorcycle salesman and then an automobile dealer. Ohr died in 1918, still convinced he was the greatest potter who ever lived. He left his pottery to his children with the request that it not be sold until 50 years after his death. He believed the originality of his work would be appreciated in time.

In 1968, exactly 50 years after Ohr's death, James W. Carpenter, a New Jersey antique dealer, discovered over 7,000 pieces of Ohr's pottery in the attic of the Ohr Boy's Auto Repair Shop. He purchased all of them from Ohr's children and offered it for sale in the New York area. People soon recognized these works of an obscure turn-of-the-century potter as the creation of a genius ahead of his time and not just the works of "the mad potter of Biloxi."

Each piece of pottery created by George Ohr is totally unique. Although he made the usual bowls, vases, mugs, pitchers and teapots, no two were alike in shape or decoration. Ohr had a mischievous nature and enjoyed making unusual forms as well, such as puzzle cups for which the puzzle was how to drink from it without spilling the contents. He made a coffeepot with a lid that couldn’t be removed. The trick was to fill it from the bottom.

Some of Ohr's work showed the Art Nouveau influence of the time. He applied snakes, crabs, seashells, dragons and even the head of a wildcat. Today, these pieces sell for high prices.

Ohr was an expert on the potter’s wheel. He created eggshell-thin vessels of fine quality but wasn’t satisfied with their static quality. He dug his fingers into the moist clay and twisted, dented, pinched, squeezed and generally "tortured" the white and red local clays into amazing one-of-a-kind forms. Ohr designed his elaborate handles with curves and scrolls in the style of wrought iron, influenced by his work with his father as a blacksmith.

Ohr’s glazes, in deep and lustrous in shades of brown, red, bright pink, purple, cobalt blue, yellow and green luster, were as varied as his pottery forms. His colors were Many objects had a gunmetal or pewter finish. He experimented with volcanic, sponged, drip, blister, iridescent, tortoiseshell and pigeon feather glazes. And on some of his pieces, he flawed or sometimes even burned his glazes.

As he got older, he left his works in the unglazed bisque stage. He believed God put no color on souls, so why should he put color on his pots.

It wasn’t until Carpenter put the pieces he discovered up for sale in the 1970s that Ohr’s work found a market, and it was his bisque pieces that got the highest prices. It seems that some of the buyers then glazed these pieces in order to earn more money from resale.

Today, collectors seek Ohr’s twisted, tortured forms and colorful vibrant glazes. It’s what he would have wanted when he was making them.

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