Bonnie Staffel on mon 5 jun 06
When I moved to the Charlevoix area in the late 60's, I met a potter by =
the
name of Frank Ettawageshik who was quite a prolific producer of =
functional
pottery, even had a gallery in downtown Traverse City. Great salesman =
as
well. When I visited his studio, he introduced me to the attributes =
of
the Bluebird Pug Mill and which I bought one right away. That was one =
of
those special forks in the road in my career . =20
Anyway during his time as a functional potter, he became interested in
exploring how his ancestors, the Odawa tribes of this area, fired =
their
early pots. He did a lot of research, experimented with the firing and
discovered shards from which he could figure out what natural materials =
were
used to create the designs. He used no modern tools to create the fire =
area
and turned out some beautiful pots. His work is in the Smithsonian =
because
of this research. Recently he became the leader of his tribe and is =
doing a
lot of work with his people. You can learn more about his experience
through this URL=20
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=3D1065790954 While the =
article is
about his son, Joe, who is carrying on the tradition, as well, the =
history
of the pit firing his father researched is spelled out.=20
Warm regards,
Bonnie Staffel=20
http://webpages.charter.net/bstaffel/
DVD Throwing with Coils and Slabs
DVD Beginning Processes
Charter Member Potters Council
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