Posted 8 years ago
artfoot
(367 items)
Those of us that have accumulated age along with our bunch of stuff remember Desert Sands Pottery as a kind of tacky pottery sold at every souvenir stand, trading post, and train station from Albuquerque to Los Angeles (and probably beyond) throughout the American Southwest. Time has served it well. Now it is recognized as well-conceived, and arguably innovative, hand made art and utilitarian pottery.
The four vases in the picture vary in height from 3 1/2" to 5 3/4". These are standard shapes that appear in the Desert Sands sales brochure as "#7 Small bud vase" and the taller "#16 Bud vase".
They are beautiful.
These are really nice. Are you familiar with Namadji (I think I spelled that right)?
Nemadji, made by the Nemadji Earth Pottery Company of Kettle River, Minnesota began making tile and utilitarian ware in the 1920s. They soon branched out into making the multi-colored vases most recognized today. The ware was promoted for a while as "Indian" and sold in souvenir stands and gift shops largely in the Northern and Middle West, though no Native Americans were actually involved.
Nemadji, and other similar potteries, colored their ware externally, and are not solid multi-color clays like Desert Sands or the more familiar Niloak. Also, very little (if any) of the Nemadji products were hand thrown.
Nemadji halted production some time in 2001.
Wow, That's great info artfoot.
really beautiful grouped like this!