Nemadji Pottery Vase | ||
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Posted 9 years ago
ho2cultcha
(5051 items)
i found this at the Laney College Flea today too. A Nemadji Swirl Vase - larger size 6" tall x 5" wide. i paid $20 for this and haven't investigated what they go for, but i bought them from a very nice man from Mexico.
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Love the shape!..:-)
Awesome colors going on there! Love it!!
Some others posted on CW here....and I have some yet to post too.....LOL
http://www.collectorsweekly.com/search.php?q=Nemadji+Pottery&show=stories
So, they are made in U.S.A. & sold in Mexico, made in U.S.A. by Mexicans or maybe made in Mexico be Americans ?
thank you inky, jscotto, antiquerose, and blunder! not quite sure how to answer that blunder, but i'm sure you'll figure it out and let us know.
Don't count on it !! LOL!
these are made in the usa in minnestoa!! I have one as well!!
Nemadji Pottery
Nemadji pottery comes from the Arrowhead region of Minnesota. It has never actually been made by native Americans, but is said to be reminiscent of the style and colouring used by them. It has come to be thought of by many as 'Indian pottery' although it has no connection with the Ojibway tribe. It was originally made from clay dug from the banks of the Nemadji river.
Nemadji Pottery was started in 1923 in Moose Lake. It produced floor tiles for wide distribution, mainly in the west and north-east, and decorative items intended primarily for the tourist trade. The painted decoration was distinctive, and the style has remained the same to the present day.
With a change in ownership in the early 1970s the company moved to Kettle River. Tile production ceased after another change of hands in 1980.
A scrap of paper is to be found in each piece bearing the following legend ...
NEMADJI POTTERY
Twenty-five thousand years ago the ice sheet of the glacial age covered the land. It is now known that the primitive ancestors of our present Indians lived here when the great ice sheet started to melt and retreat. Clays of various shades and composition were made by the glacial ice sheets; the great weight of the ice ground rocks and ores into dust, which became clays, afterwards washed and refined by the lakes and streams from the melting glaciers. From these clays Nemadji Pottery is made
The Indians used this clay left by the ice sheet to make cooking pots and vases, and in the ancient warrior's grave are found fragments of his favorite cooking pot. Nemadji Art Pottery is made largely from designs of this ancient Indian pottery and many of their traditional shapes are preserved in our designs.
The coloring of Nemadji Art Pottery is accomplished in a manner that allows no two pieces to be exactly alike. The pottery is burned in a kiln and glazed on the inside. The warm rich colors of this pottery recall the colorful costumes of the redman, who, though long since gone to the happy hunting ground, still haunts in spirit the plains, streams, woods, and lakes of this our Empire
http://www.studiopottery.com/cgi-bin/mp.cgi?item=340
WOW! Now made in MN by possibly Vietnamese, Irish, Chinese etc.. I'm sorry, but being partially raised by a Creek so shortly after the atrocities done to them, has always left me with a mixed view. Whites want to capitalize on anything Indian, yet even 100 yrs. ago, they wanted to kill them all ! Australians have done the same thing, so I guess it's just the "white man's way". Afraid it has left my life's values a bit hazy. Sorry for expressing my feelings .
I love the myriad of beautiful colors Ho2! Fantastic buy!
Thanks Sean, blunder, and Rick!
The definitive reference is "The Myth And Magic Of Nemadji Indian Pottery" by Michelle D. Lee, which will answer any questions one may have about this pottery.
The idea that Nemadji pottery is Indian or related in some way to Native Americans is a textbook case of how the public can be deceived for years by misleading and deceptive advertising, of which the paper accompanying each piece was a prime example.
It is carefully worded to imply what the company wanted the consumer to believe. Use of the meaningless term "native clay," for example, to imply a connection with Native American Indians, and the reference to varying shades of "glacial clay." The distinctive swirling colors actually came from dipping the fired pots in vats of water, which contained swirls of Pittsburgh Paint, a marbling process developed for the company by a Danish potter, Eric Hellman. After 1970, the clay was shipped in from commercial companies in Kentucky and Ohio, it wasn't even "local" clay.
One only has to look at the catalog pages reproduced in Lee's book, to see that the forms produced had no relationship at all to "ancient Indian" pottery shapes. The only "Indian" connection were the manufactured claims by the company, and the iconic stamp of an Indian profile on the bottom, used once it became illegal to stamp the pots with "Indian Pottery" or "USA Indian."
Nemadji was a shameless exploitation of the American Indian, the type of merchandising that led to the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. After the law went into effect, the company closed. It's still very collectible, but the story behind it is often the most interesting part.
The MN border is quite a way from Pittsburgh, OH & KY !
well-said CanyonRoad! thank you. it was [and is to a much lesser account] common practice for many americans to purchase 'indian crafts' at roadside galleries throughout the country. many of these actually are/were owned by native american people, but many of them like Nemadji, simply exploited this tradition. i think it's an admirable tradition for many families, but like so many things which can get complicated, it needs to be done w/ a certain amount of consciousness, knowledge, and respect.
Like it Love it !!!
Great colors, really nice piece!!!
I collect and sell primarily Chinese and Japanese pottery. But l bought a bowl at a thrift store near DC and it was Nemadji but not marked as such it had a title
"The Alamo" when l used my loop and shined a lite across the bottom to catch the gliymes of a mark to help identify the piece l started seeing faces peering back at me . My wife said l was crazy but l clearly saw what looked like a cowboy shooting another man and when l looked at the sides with the loop l began to see a story of a desperate battle. The Chinese have been hiding designed and faces in the glaze of pottery for years and some of the stuff that came out of China in the 50's and 60's has strong communist propaganda hidden within the fake aging on the bottom even inside statues and vases you see things within a certain light . look at your piece closely . take a photo and play with the grey and black. Also put an alternate light source like black light tell me what you see. 20 percent of the population cannot see Amorphic images .
For Crywolfe2u - the piece you have with "The Alamo" written on the side was made by Meyers Pottery of Texas. This Texas swirl-painted pottery is often mistaken for Nemadji because the same process was used for the decoration. Pieces marked "The Alamo" were sold as souvenirs at the Alamo. Pieces marked "Buckhorn Saloon" are also favorites among collectors.