Local Potters Draw on
Time-Tested Techniques to Create Functional, Beautiful Earthenware.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Of Fire and Clay
Allison Severance attaches a handle to a clay mug in her Highfield Pottery studio, where she makes wood-fire salt glaze pots. Functional pieces made by area potters like Allison keep modern clients in touch with handmade heritage.
by Frances J. Folsom + photos by Chris Jackson
Local Potters Draw on
Time-Tested Techniques to Create Functional, Beautiful Earthenware.
Over the centuries archeologists have unearthed pottery in the Middle East that dates back 10,000 years to the Neolithic Revolution. The pottery wheel was invented in Mesopotamia in 3,000 B. C., and potters have used bone and ash glazes since the 1 st century. In the 6 th century Greek potters started“ baking” their urns and vases. But it was the Chinese during the T’ ang Dynasty in the 7 th century that started adding art designs to pottery. This heritage and time-honored techniques are still at work today, in the hands of local potters working at their wheels and kilns— molding and firing pieces that add functional beauty to our lives.
THROWING POTS ON SOUTH MOUNTAIN Bill van Gilder has been a potter longer than he likes to admit. A graduate of the Harrow
Hagerstown: The Best of Life in Washington County & Beyond March / April 2013 31