NativeWeb Resources: Pottery & Clay

Name and Description	Nation	Location
Artistic Heritage of Clay		US - Southwest
A unit from a high school ceramics course with a studio emphasis was enriched with content from art history, art criticism, and aesthetics. This four-week unit, entitled The Artistic Heritage of Clay: Survival and Revival of Traditions, demonstrates how elective studio courses might be enhanced with the discipline-based approach. In four sections, the unit moves from a general historical investigation of ceramic objects, to study of the pottery of ancient Americans, the Mimbres culture of the Southwestern United States, to a specific focus on the work of María Martinez, the celebrated Native American potter of San Ildefonso Pueblo. The fourth section engages students in the creation of clay vessels using methods similar to those of the artist.
Caveman to Chemist Projects: Fire
Without fire, man would have remained a rather unremarkable animal in the African landscape. It was fire which extended our waking hours beyond sunset, sterilized food that might have been contaminated or spoiled, and, perhaps most importantly, allowed us to change the properties of the aterials around us. Wood became hardened, bone was more easily broken to expose the utritious marrow within, stone became more easily fractured. Fire's heat allowed us to venture orth into climates that would otherwise have been inhospitable. But as important as these initial pplications were, even they pale in comparison to the new materials which came out of the fire. Clay became pottery, ash became soap, sand became glass, and various minerals became metals. We we more of our material culture to fire than to any other single phenomenon.
More sites on cavemanchemistry.com
Caveman to Chemist Projects: Pottery
Fire, as I have said, is probably the most important technology to be mastered by humans. But in order to proceed in the use of fire, we need containers that can withstand the heat. Wood containers burn; metal and glass containers melt. Ceramic materials are the ones best suited to high-temperature work. Ceramics predated and were used in the development of metal and glass.
More sites on cavemanchemistry.com
ClayStation's Pit-Fire Techniques: Introduction and History		US - Southwest
By reading through this Firing Guide, you will get well acquainted with the Pit firing process and be fully prepared to participate in the process with someone who is experienced in this type of firing process. This information is inspired by the techniques shown by Lancet. Lancet is a Ceramics and Sculpture Professor at Solano Community College in norhthern California.
Experimental Pottery Kilns
Through Anglo-Saxon & Viking Crafts - Regia Anglorum Publications: The first kiln that we tried was a relatively crude type, using the very minimum of materials for construction, considering the adverse conditions we had quite encouraging results.
More sites on www.regia.org
Gather Around This Pot - CMCC		Canada
Well before Europeans reached this continent, Native peoples in many parts of Canada had mastered the art of producing durable, functional, and beautiful ceramic containers. The manufacture of ceramic containers requires an intricate knowledge of a complex technology. Pottery-making is foremost an understanding of material properties and the control of their modification through the application of heat. A virtual exhibit tour, Who made them? All sizes and shapes, How old are they? Pottery-making techniques, and Conserving ceramic treasures.
More sites on www.civilization.ca
Hollister Collection - Southwestern Native American Pottery		US - Southwest
This collection of 94 pieces of Southwestern pottery is the result of the efforts of Mr. Hollister, who collected these pots one or two at a time for nearly 60 years. The collection was purchased by Mr. F.A. Rosenstock of Denver, Colorado in 1966. Mr. Hollister died the following year. Despite numerous offers from collectors interested in only a few pieces, Mr. Rosenstock maintained the collection as he had acquired it and sold it to the University of Massachusetts in 1969.
More sites on www.umass.edu
IPL: Pueblo Pottery Exhibit	Pueblo	US - Southwest
The Internet Public Library is the first public library of the Internet. As librarians, we are committed to providing valuable services to that world. We do so for many reasons: to provide library services to the Internet community, to learn and teach what librarians have to contribute in a digital environment, to promote librarianship and the importance of libraries, and to share interesting ideas and techniques with other librarians.
More sites on www.ipl.org
Pochteca
Ceramic & pottery archaeological link resources
More sites on members.tripod.com
Pottery Making		US - Northeast
Pottery, one of the first synthetics created by man, is created by a dehydration process. The process in which clay is heated and the water found naturally in it is removed, causes an irreversible transformation. In other words the clay is not simply dehydrated but it become a different product all together. This new product is ceramics, which are unchanged by the presence of water because of absence of water of plasticity.
Prehistoric Pottery		US - Central
Pottery was important to ancient Iowans and is an important type of artifact for the archaeologist. Ceramic pots are breakable but the small fragments, or sherds, are almost indestructible, even after hundreds of years in the ground. Pots were tools for cooking, serving, and storing food, and pottery was also an avenue of artistic expression.
More sites on www.uiowa.edu
The Process of Hopi-Tewa Pottery Making	Hopi	US - Southwest
When you look at a piece of art work, do you ever stop to wonder about the process involved or the person who actually created the piece? What about the time, preparation, and meticulous detail involved? Maybe you are the type of person who has knowledge of a particular artisan or type of art, but many of us enjoy art simply because it appeals to our individual tastes.
More sites on www.u.arizona.edu
Whapmagoostui Art Factory	Cree	Canada
The Whapmagoostui Art Factory is a Cree cooperative education project. Its objective is to develop students entrepreneurial spirit. The site contains the historical background of the project, ongoing activities and a catalogue. The Factory has been approached by the Aboriginal Mental Team, affiliated with the Jewish General Hospital and McGill University in Montreal, to collaborate to the creation of a resource guide that focuses on the use of creative arts in promoting health in North American Aboriginal communities.
More sites on www.geocities.com