George E. Ohr

George E. Ohr (1857-1918) has been called the first art potter in the United States, and many say the finest. Ohr was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, July 12 1857. His father, who he was named after, was a blacksmith. After learning the blacksmith trade from his father, George Ohr at fourteen left for New Orleans, where he tried nineteen different jobs. When he was twenty-two he was offered a job as an apprentice potter in New Orleans. Ohr loved it the moment he began.

After he had learned his craft, he left New Orleans for a two-year, sixteen-state tour of potteries in the United States to learn all he could about the profession. He returned to Biloxi and built his pottery shop himself. Ohr used clay he dug from around the river where he lived. “Biloxi Art and Novelty Pottery,” as he called his shop, in no time was crammed with vessels & pots of all shapes, sizes, and decorations. Ohr presented himself as a wildly eccentric person — brash, mischievous, wearing flowing beard and hair, and hooking his moustache over his ears. He gave his business a carnival atmosphere. He called himself “the mad potter of Biloxi,” because of his wild personality & equally wild pottery. His shop became a tourist attraction where people could be entertained as they watched him work.

His extraordinary skill brought him to the attention of the art world. Ohr created extremely delicate, thin-walled pots which he made by twisting, denting, pinching, ruffling, and folding the clay. Unfortunately Ohr's serious creations did not find popularity with the public. Ohr’s energetic and expressionistic treatment of clay was too wild for refined tastes. However, he was called “one of the most interesting potters in the United States,” and one famous ceramics teacher in New York even cited Ohr as a genius.  No one would pay the prices he demanded and his refusal to sell his fine pieces at reasonable prices stopped him from getting wide recognition or success.

Ohr gave up his profession as potter in 1909. The famous ceramic shop landmark became Biloxi's first auto repair shop, run by his sons. Ohr packed up several thousand pots and stored them away. He was confident that the world would someday recognize him as “the greatest art potter on earth.” He died of cancer in Biloxi in 1918.

Fifty years after his death, in 1968, an antiques dealer from New Jersey looking for old cars, happened upon the crates of pots stored in the Ohr Boys' Auto Repair Shop. He bought all 6,000 pieces for $50,000. As the pots came on the market, art pottery collectors were intrigued and his pots began to sell for thousands of dollars each. Today Ohr is well known in the art world for his artistic pottery creations. 

Artwork:

Notice the colors, pinching, folding, twisting etc on the pots

Project:

What you need:

·         1 baggie of big clay color & 1 baggie small clay colors for each student

·         1 paper plate for each student

·         1 plastic knife & fork per 2 students

1- Pass out supplies for each student

2- Instruct students how to make a “pinch pot” with their large ball of clay.

3- Instruct students on how to attach clay pieces with cross-hatch marks using a fork. Give them ideas of what they can add with the other colors of clay ( ie: tongue, teeth, eyes, ears, feet, hair, antennae).

4- Students need to write their name on their paper plate and then begin on their creation.