OUACHITA POTTERY

THE OUACHITA POTTERY OF HOT SPRINGS

The Ouachita Pottery Company was the first to capitalize on Arkansas's

rich clay deposits to produce art pottery. Originally started as the

Mountain Valley Pottery Company in 1905, the company used clay discovered by

Ohian Lee Worthington, an experienced mineralogist, and capital provided by

Robert Bradford of St. Louis, to establish "a new art pottery" in America to

rival Rookwood Pottery and others in Ohio. Bradford was familiar with the

art pottery industry and stated his intentions "to have a high class pottery

plant and employ only the very best talent obtainable."

Bradford hired ceramists Paul Cox and Arthur Dovey to "decorate in the

Rookwood style." Cox was probably the first schooled ceramist to work in

Arkansas, and Bradford hired him to create glazes. Dovey, a long-time

Rookwood thrower, brought a wealth of knowledge concerning popular shapes.

Although Dovey was a thrower, most of the Ouachita wares were molded. The

plant was in operation by early 1906; the company reorganized during the

summer, officially becoming the Ouachita Pottery Company.

Ouachita Pottery (and its successor, Hot Springs Pottery) exhibited their

wares at the 1906 and 1907 Arkansas State Fairs in Hot Springs. During the

1907 exhibit, the Hot Springs Pottery Company promoted itself within the

context of boosting Arkansas: "Think of the different homes in all quarters

of the globe who will have a piece of this great pottery ware . . . wouldn't

that be advertising Arkansas (Hot Springs) products?" Despite publicity in

state and local publications, the company performed poorly.

In June 1908, the company was reorganized as the Hot Springs Clay Products

Company with Lee Worthington as president. Worthington sought to "erect a

large plant at once...for the manufacture of pottery of a high grade," but

the plant was never built. After the departure of Dovey and Cox to other

pottery companies, Worthington disassociated himself from the firm to

develop copper mining. At that time, Arkansas's first pottery company ceased

to exist.

WOMEN & ART AT OUACHITA

Women's groups in Cincinnati began work in china painting, helping mark

the beginning of the American art pottery movement. Rookwood Pottery grew as

a result of women's artistic abilities. Newcomb Pottery actually began as a

club where women could work. Ouachita Pottery followed the national trend of

using accomplished female artists as decorators too. Female employees left

their initials on the wares-Sarah Elizabeth Smith is S. E. S., while M. D.

is probably Mariah Dovey, Dovey's mother. S. E. E. is probably Sarah

Elizabeth Ellsworth. Sara Elizabeth "Bettie" Smith decorated examples often

with plant and animal themes, while artist S. E. E. made sculptured vases

resembling designs by Fritz Albert at Teco Pottery of Illinois.

Thanks to Cox and Dovey, who were familiar with national trends, Ouachita

Pottery production mirrored those of other potteries who successfully

produced decorative ceramics with simple designs and glazes. They produced

many of the same shapes used by other potteries, and the finish was

primarily a matte green. During 1906, Ouachita Pottery made "almost 30

different shades and colors," yet most were matte green glazes.

Ouachita Pottery's production included molded and hand-thrown pottery with

added decoration like incised geometric designs. Designs and techniques were

developed as a result of many influences. Ouachita borrowed Rookwood's

technique of creating slip-painted pieces, which resembled the medium of

painting on canvas. Biloxi, Mississippi's Ohr Pottery produced "scroddled"

pottery-a style closely resembling Missionware pottery; the Arkansas company

used this technique as well. In production as early as 1902, such a

connection can be made because it was probably exhibited in Ohr's booth at

the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and seen by soon-to-be Ouachita Pottery

employees.

The manufacture of swirl pottery was Ouachita Pottery's greatest

contribution to Arkansas's art pottery movement. Attributed to Dovey,

photographic evidence sets the early foundation for work at Niloak Pottery a

few years later. Ouachita Pottery brought state and national attention to

the possibilities of Arkansas ceramic resources. As the Hot Springs company

was slowly coming to an end, new activities were beginning a few miles away

that eventually put Arkansas on the map within the national ceramic

industry.