As part of a highlight tour at VMFA last week, a curator showed several works in recognition of Black History month. This is an original jug created by Dave the Potter, It is identifiable by the writing he adds around the opening. Here is the cover of a picture book in the Collegiate library, bringing this unknown craftsman to public about ten years ago. From the description in the library catalogue we learn little is known about the man known as Dave the potter. Two things are certain, though: he was a slave in South Carolina, and he was a potter of uncommon skill. As Hill writes, "Dave was one of only two potters at the time who could successfully make pots that were larger than twenty gallons." He also inscribed strange, sophisticated poetry into the clay: "I wonder where / is all my relation / friendship to all- / and, every nation." The verses Hill uses to introduce us to Dave are sometimes just as evocative: "On wet days, / heavy with rainwater, / it is cool and squishy, / mud pie heaven." The book's quiet dignity comes from its refusal to scrutinize life as a slave; instead, it is nearly a procedural, following Dave's mixing, kneading, spinning, shaping, and glazing
I like the combo here- and how the story is both revealing and patchy- a reflection of a man who preferred to speak through his pottery than with his voice.
