African American Slave Potters

Slaves in America were found all over the country, working in various jobs, dependant upon the wishes of their master, their owner.  We often hear about the many slaves who worked on farms, picking cotton, planting and harvesting crops, but we must remember that slaves both in the North and in the South often worked in factories and sometimes were trained as artisans, an integral part of the society.  There were many slaves factories in America, where slaves made bricks, dishes and various household items but we will explore the artistic life of the slave, the work that was created despite suppression.  We will see how the creative spirit broke through, even with the lack of freedom and intense control, the human artistic spirit still rang.

Dave the Potter is one artist that we will explore, discovering the myriad of ways that his vessels serve both historians and educators as excellent primary source documents, allowing us to discover what life was like for those enslaved in America.  Dave's couplets let us into his life.

 Ancient African Art influence is prevalent in the face vessels made by slaves in America.

We will also explore the ART of the face vessels, those face jugs/pitchers/mugs that were made predominately in the pottery studios of South Carolina.  The human face has been used throughout history by man and is an excellent window into the past.  We'll look at the carved faces created by the slaves,  influenced by their African pasts, reflective of their ancient ceremonies and rituals, often evoking ancestoral spirits.

Face Vessel Lesson Plan

Teachers:  Susan Kopecki & Michelle Hovan

Grade Level- Grade 4-8

Anticipated Time Period –4 weeks

Essential Questions-

*How do people express themselves through art?

*Why do people express themselves with art?

Enduring Understandings –

* Materials process and environment complement each other.

*Art is reflective of a society and culture.

*Art is everywhere.

CT State Standards- Visual Arts:  Content Standard 3:  Content

                                                         Content Standard 6:  Connections

Unit Goal-Students will create a clay vessel.

Objective

-Students will understand the significance of folk art to a people.

-Students will create a clay vessel sculpture with an expressive face.

-Students will understand the processes of clay construction and application of glaze.

Vocabulary

·        Clay, slab, join, kiln, glaze, texture, vessel, Kongo, kaolin, artisans, legends, caricatures, contrast, expressive, folk art, symbolic

Materials and Resources

Sketch paper/pencils

Examples of face vessel folk art

Pre and Post Test on Face Vessels

Handout Face Vessels

Prezi (online presentation)

Book:

·        “Ceramics in America 2006” (Ceramics in America Annual) [Paperback]  by Robert Hunter (Editor)

·        “The Afro-American Tradition in Decorative Arts”  [Paperback] by John Michael Vlach

Clay (both white and brown, other colors could also be used), modeling tools, rolling pins,cloth, brushes, slip, glaze, small sponges, underglaze, kiln, mirror, clear glaze

Motivation/Initiation

·        Pre Test on Face Vessels

·        Introduce students to the history of face vessel. (Prezi and handouts)
PREZI PRESENTATION: 
 http://prezi.com/svsnriafoqxk/creating-face-vessels/
 ·        Handout “Write one thing you learned about Face Vessels and draw 4 different examples.”

·        Photographs of face vessel- both past and present

·        Post Test on Face Vessels

Clay Activity

How to create Face Vessels:

I use approximately one pound of clay per student when beginning the process. Students work on large pieces of cloth, easy to roll and work on.

1.     Students will complete the handout of drawing 4 different expressions.  Give each student a mirror.   I encourage my students to be as expressive as possible in their designs. I also allow them to do monster faces, half-animal faces or any other sort of distorted or expressive face design that they can come up with. Real, fantasy or a combo! Imagination is the key. When the sketches are complete have each student choose one to use as inspiration for their face vessel.

2.     Begin working in clay. Teacher will demonstration slab technique as well as general scoring and slipping of clay.  I recommend they make their vessels approximately 5-10 inches high, but any size is possible. The vessel is created using a rectangular slab. (thick slab is preferred) If you have a slab roller, the teacher can roll out the slabs ahead of time. If not then the students will roll out their slabs, using cloth for the table surface and rolling pins.  Give each table a pile of various rectangles to trace for their form.  Students will trace the rectangle on their slab and using a pin tool cut it out.   Students may add bottom, joining well, at both seam on bottom and sides. The seam on the back may be smoothed down or left visible, artist choice.  A ruler helps with the paddling to smooth edges. As always I allow their own exploration at this point: some may add handles, covers, or turn it into a pitcher, their choice.

3.     Using remaining clay from slab students will sculpt their faces. This is done by adding and subtracting clay for a really three-dimensional face. Score and slip to attach features. Interesting affects can be made by combining the two colored clays, white (kaolin) teeth, white eyes). Remind students that white in African culture is symbolic of death, one of the stories that is behind the face vessel. Encourage contrast and variety when adding details.  Textures can also be added for effect, using various modeling tools.

4.     When hand building is done, clay is dried (often a week or more) and bisque-fired. Since the vessels tend to be thick, I often dry them slowly.

Bisque-fired clay is then painted using small amounts of underglazes (more color accents) and then carefully coated in clear glaze. I love the rich brown slabs with the clear glaze against the white clay and snippets of color. (Contrast) The vessels are fired a second and final time for a finished product.

5.      Students will write a short paragraph about their face vessel and its connection to the slave past.

Resources:

http://africanamericanslaveart.blogspot.com/

   *This blogspot is dedicated to the ART of the African American Potter and is filled with various resources.

A Face Jug History

Face jugs are sometimes called "ugly jugs."  Face jugs were first made in the early 1800's by slave potters and others in the Edgefield district of South Carolina.  They had bits of porcelain or white rocks for eyes and teeth.  Moonshine was traditionally stored in face jugs to differentiate them from other jugs. Children were told the "boogie man would get them" if they touched the jug.  Kaolin clay was combined with the dark stoneware clays on the jugs to make features that mimic human eyeballs and teeth. The southern United States has been the world's most prolific region for face vessels. Famous potters - Craig, Meaders and Brown, now deceased, could hardly get 25 cents for their jugs, but now one of their jugs are selling at four and five digit prices.

The Mysterious Face Jug

 There are so many legends out there as to when the 1st Slave Face Jug appeared in America, with almost 20 states trying to take credit.   Most of the face vessels found in America have come from the Edgefield District stoneware factories in the South.  We know that the owners used slaves to make their pottery wares.

African American Slave Vessels

African American Tradition
This is a face jug made by an unidentified African-American slave around 1850. Enslaved African-Americans made bricks and pottery for use on the plantation. In their spare time, they created clay vessels with faces. These objects were highly prized in the community. They were passed down from one generation to the next. Other North Carolina potters also made face vessels. Perhaps they saw these small vessels and tried to make a face on one of their jugs.

Face jugs are humorous and often times have funny expressions. Potters began creating face jugs in their spare time. Some potters are famous for their face jugs like Burlon Craig of Vale, North Carolina. His face jugs are in great demand

Dave the Potter Powerpoint

Dave The Slave Powerpoint

Freedom Poetry Clay Plates

Freedom

Teachers	Susan Kopecki and Michelle Hovan
Grade	5-8
Title	“Freedom” Clay Poetry Plate
Subject Area(s)	Art, History, Writing
Overview	Students in grades 5-8 will see the connection that art makes to a society and a culture by exploring the art of Dave, an enslaved African American Potter from South Caroline who began making pottery before the Civil War, from around the early 1820’s to the mid-to-late 1860’s. Dave is famous for his ability to throw very large pots often up to 40 gallons or more in size and for the fact that he was able to read and write. We know that because his pots were often signed, ‘Dave’ and the pots often contained short poems that he wrote. The poetry and pottery created by Dave serve as excellent primary source artifacts as we decipher a great deal of information from the poetry about the life and conditions of a slave. The best current estimate is that Dave was born around 1800. Much of the information that historians have been able to assemble on Dave has come from examining the records of the families that ran the principal pottery works in the region. Over time he was bought and sold by the Drake, Gibbs, Miles, and Landrum families. Dave, for example, was the property of Harry Drake until the latter’s death in 1832. After emancipation in the 1860s, Dave took the last name of Drake, perhaps in commemorative remembrance of the man who presumably taught him to be a potter.  We will use the several books on African American Art, along with the Leonard Todd’s book, ‘Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of the Slave Potter and ‘Dave’,  an NPR podcast to explore the life of Dave. My students will complete an art unit, combining clay sculpture with a literacy component as they too learn to express themselves through the visual arts, just as Dave, the Potter, did back in the 19th century.
Essential Understanding	Often society and art are reflective of one another. Art connects us to our past.
Essential Questions	In the world today do we learn as much through visual images as we do through written word? How do a person’s views, beliefs, and opinions shape the way they view and make art? How do people express themselves through art? Where do ideas come from?
CT Standards	CT Social Studies Curriculum Framework: Content Standard 1- Content Knowledge: Knowledge of concepts and information from history and social studies is necessary to promote understanding of our nation and our world. Content Standard 2- History/Social Studies Literacy: Competence in literacy inquiry and research skills is necessary to analyze, evaluate and present history and social studies information. Content Standard 3-Application: Civic Competence in addressing historical issues and current problems requires the use of information, skills and empathic awareness.   CT Art Curriculum Framework: Content Standard 3- Content: Students will consider, select and apply a range of subject matter, symbols and ideas. Content Standard 4- History and Cultures: Students will understand the visual arts in relation to history and culture. Content Standard 5- Analysis, interpretation and Evaluation: Students will reflect upon, describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others’ work.
Objectives	Students will create a clay plate that will be inscribed with a couplet they have written on freedom, inspired by the work of a slave named Dave, the potter.
Materials	Clay, clay tools, glaze, underglaze, paint brushes, water, pencils, sketch paper, plate/draped cloth
Day 1	Details of the ActivityStudents will see a Power Point on the history and life of ‘‘Dave the Potter’, view some examples of his work and listen to a podcast written by a currant author on Dave’s life. *Assign homework:  “Freedom” http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96140163 Author Leonard Todd's new book, Carolina Clay, explores the life,art and legacy of a slave potter named Dave. Todd offers a personal perspective on the history of slavery: His great-great grandfather owned Dave.  All resources, including Power Point can be viewed on the blog created for this lesson on African American Slave Pottery: http://africanamericanslaveart.blogspot.com/
	Art Homework:

               “FREEDOM”

Name______________________

We have just discovered how Dave the Potter used Art to express himself and share details of his life with poetry.  Please write a couplet, 2-3 lines, rhyming or not, that represent your thoughts on freedom. Because the rhyme comes so quickly in rhyming couplets, it tends to call attention to itself. Think also about your font.

Day 2

Pass out Handout ‘Verses Made By Dave’ to class.

How do these verses let us know what life might have been like for a slave like Dave?

Verses on Vessels Made by Dave_ 
Put every bit all between
surely this jar will hold 14
12 July 1834
 
Horses, mules and hogs-
all our cows is in the bogs-
there they shall ever stay
till the buzzards take them away
29 March 1836
 
A better thing I never saw
When I shot off the lions jaw
9 November 1836
 
Ladies & gentlemens shoes
Sell all you can & nothing you’ll loose
29 January 1840
 
Give me silver; either gold
Though they are dangerous; to our soul
27 July 1840
 
Dave belongs to Mr. Miles
Wher the oven bakes & the pot biles
31 July 1840
 
Another trick is worst than this
Dearest Miss, spare me a kiss
26 August 1840
 
I wonder where is all my relations
Friendship to all – and every nation
16 August 1857
 
made this jar for cash
Though it is called lucre trash
22 August 1857
 
 
Making this jar: I had all thoughts
Lads & gentlemen: never out walks
30 January 1858
 
If you don’t listen at the bible
You will be lost
25 March 1859
 
I made this for our Sott
it will never - never – rott
31 March 1858
 
This noble jar will hold 20
fill it with silver then you’ll have plenty
8 April, 1858
 
A very large jar which has four handles
pack it full of fresh meat - then light candles
12 April, 1858
 
 
The sun, moon and – stars
in the west are plenty of – bears
29 July 1858
 
I saw a leopard & a lions face
than I felt the need of - grace
3 November 1858
 
When Noble Dr. Landrum is dead
May Guardian angels visit his bed
14 April 1859
 
Hive is eighteen; hundred + fifty nine
unto you all I fill in---cline
18 April 1859
 
Good for lard and holding fresh meats
blest we were, when Peter saw the folded sheets
3 May 1859
 
Made at Stoney Bluff
for making lard enuff
13 May 1859
 
Great & noble jar
hold sheep goat and bear
13 May 1859
 
The forth of July is surely come
to blow the fife = and beat the drum.
4 July 1859
 
I saw a leopard & a lions face
then I felt, the need of grace
7 August 1860
 
A noble jar for pork or beef
Then carry it a round to the indian chief
9 November1860
 
I – made this jar all of cross
If you don’t repent, you will be lost
3 May 1862

Day 3

Clay construction
 
Clay Slab Construction
1. Using slab-rolling machine, roll out one large slab (15x15) per student and place on a plate draped in cloth. If you don’t have a slab roller, students will roll out a large piece of clay on a piece of cloth, using a rolling pin.  Encourage even thickness with slab.
2. Press clay slab into a plate lined with a piece of cloth (prevent sticking) and cut edges to fit the size of the plate. Smooth edges of plate with a small wet sponge, ridding the clay of jagged edges or imperfections. Textures, details or patterns made be added to edge.
3. Details may also be added to the plate, decorative elements (leaves, flowers, shapes) but remind students that the majority of the clay surface will be for their couplet.

4.  Clay slab must dry for one week and be bisque fired in a kiln.
6. Using underglazes (various colors) and very small brushes students will paint their couplet onto the clay plate. Pencils may be used first to space the writing. Pencil line will burn off so it isn’t necessary to erase mistakes.  Decorative elements or patterns may be painted on the plate. Be sure underglaze is applied in 2 coats to ensure coverage, encourage darker colors or outlining as an option too.
7. Clear glaze is then sponged onto the entire plate (except the bottom) and plate is then fired for the 2nd time. Do not glaze bottom of plate, but edges may be sponged. Clear glaze should be lightly sponged on, never rubbed or smearing will occur.

OPTIONS:

  * Pre-made plates made be ordered from clay companies, eliminating need for rolling out own clay plate. 

   * Bowls, dishes or platters may also be used.

Again: All resources can be viewed on the blog created for this lesson on African American Slave Pottery:

http://africanamericanslaveart.blogspot.com/

Rubric

Clay Poetry Plate Rubric

Activity           Use of Materials    Concept  Effort

Homework

 Couplet

Clay construction

Under glaze application

1-Outstanding

2-Above Average

3-Average

4-Below Average

1=A

2=B

3=C

4=D

Name_______________________Overall Grade__________

Possible Extensions/Resources

*Introduce contemporary African American Artists such as

Romare Bearden “Roots Odyssey”

Student Working On Clay Plates

Rare Face Jug

Rare face jug unearthed by plumber will be displayed at Philly museum