another influence...African continuities...

*



Ma Lou (Mrs. Louisa Jones) 1913-1992 was brought up in Spanish Town, Jamaica among potters (her mother and aunts were all potters) whose clay practice connected to African hand building traditions: coiling up forms in a ceramic saucer or keke; building up while walking around the pot, & eventually firing in an open circular pit. Mrs. Jones worked in clay most of her life, stopping briefly between 1954 and 1957. She picked it up again and kept producing until she passed in 1992. Her daughter, Marlene “Munchie” Roden continued making pots in the same tradition.

(See: Vincentelli, Moira. Women Potters: Transforming Traditions. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 2004. 125-30)



* Image of Ma Lou reproduced from Baugh’s & Tanna’s, Baugh; Jamaica's Master Potter.

Additional information:

http://www.ceramics-aberystwyth.com/jamaican-pottery.php

http://people.eku.edu/molinaroj/malou.html

pit results

This last pit was opened 2 days later. Most of the work had some color and there were a few pieces with cracks. As always it is a surprise.












Of the four firings this last one was the most successful; for over all color in the whole pit and a nice variation of greys and blacks from the carbon. 

                                                                           

             Mike Conti; thrown form, 2011.


 
 
 

Various surfaces

 
 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

                                                          

                                                                                

                                                                                                           

For our next round of firings one of our concerns is to minimize the cracking we have had on some pieces.We are going to break up the flame with a few bricks and maybe not fire as quickly. We are also going to experiment with various ‘magic mixes’ being blown into the pit.

At a later date I will add a couple images of my finished female forms.