Cherokee Art Market - Native American Times

6 NATIVE OKLAHOMA • OCTOBER 2013NATIVE OKLAHOMA • OCTOBER 2013 7R RLearning Southeastern Coil BuiltPottery with a National TreasureJane Osti regularly holds classes in Tahlequah to sustain the traditionDenise Chaudoin puts the finishing touches on her creation.PHOTOS BY LISA SNELLLISA SNELLCherokeeTAHLEQUAH, Okla. - A short,stubby, big-eared dog with an impressiveunderbite met me at the door thatThursday evening. He gaveme a growl before scootingaway to the opposite sideof the room and I guessedI deserved that for beinglate to my first traditionalSoutheastern style potteryclass.“Buster Burnt SiennaBrown! You be nice,”admonished a flusteredlookingwoman in aclay-smudged peachshirt. She was flutteringabout, clearing space andgathering tools. “Comeon in. Let’s get started. I’mJane.”Buster squinted at mewarily from across theroom. He was going tokeep an eye on me.The ad in the paperdidn’t mention beingsupervised by a bulldog.It did, however, promisean intensive Cherokeepottery workshop taughtby Jane Osti. Studentswould dig and processnative clay, learn thetraditional process of coil buildingpots, and fire their creations in a pit theway it used to be done in the Southeastwoodlands.These traditional techniques hadalmost died out among the Cherokee,but were revived by award-winningCherokee potter Anna Mitchell duringthe 1970s. Osti met Mitchell in 1988 andstudied with her for a few years beforeshe began entering her own coil-builtcreations in art shows and competitions.Today, Jane Osti is a veteran of museumshows and Indian markets across thecountry. She’s earned numerous awardsand her work is featured in museumcollections around the nation. She hasJoAnne Dobrinski watches as Jane Osti helps hereven out the side of her pot.taught classes at the Cherokee HeritageCenter and at Northeastern StateUniversity in Tahlequah. I had seen herpottery at the Trail of Tears art showat the Cherokee Heritage Center andat NDN Art Gallery in Tahlequah anddecided to give her class a go.There were seven of us seated aroundthe long tables set up in her studio.We made introductions and got toit. Osti divvied out small blocks ofcommercial clay for us to roll into a balland then flatten into a base for our pot.Next we rolled a lump of clay into a ropelike coil to wrap around the base we hadmade. Using our thumbs, we joined thecoil to the biscuit like base and smoothedaway the seam. We repeatedthe process with a secondcoil, joining it to the first.A smooth oval river rockwas used to clean, thin andshape the inside walls. Theoutside was smoothed withthin flexible metal paddles.By drawing upward withthe paddle, the walls arethinned without scraping.“You want a strong basebefore you start buildingup the walls of your pottery.The higher you want togo with your walls, thesturdier you need the baseto be,” Osti said, showingus the base of a large vesselshe was creating. Whencomplete, it would standnearly two feet tall.Working a pot addsmoisture, and too muchmoisture makes buildingup the walls difficult. Weset our pots aside to dry alittle and strengthen beforeadding more coils.Since part of the classwas learning how toprocess native clay, we arranged to meeton Saturday to go do some digging. Ostihas a spot outside of Hulbert where shefound yellow clay.“The lighter the color the better. I’malways looking for good clay,” she said.Osti showed us the exposed clay in asmall ridge. It looked like rocky muddydirt. She broke away a shovel full.“See how it shingles up? Clay breaksup into ridges when you break it apart.”