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Kim Ellington (b. 1954) lives and works in Vale, North Carolina and is known for his use of local clays, ash glazes, and a groundhog kiln to make and fire his functional pottery wares. Ellington studied clay at Haywood Community College in Clyde, North Carolina, and was a studio potter when he met venerated Catawba Valley ceramist Burlon Craig. From Craig, Ellington learned the traditional methods of Catawba Valley potters, and since that time, has followed their traditions at his company Ellington Pottery. Read More

The Eagle Pottery Company of Benton, Arkansas produced Niloak Pottery in the first few decades of the twentieth century. Eagle Pottery grew out of Hyten Brothers Pottery, which formed in 1895 through a partnership between Charles Hyten and several of his brothers. In 1901, Hyten formed a new partnership with Alfred Warren and renamed his business the Eagle Pottery Company. Eight years later, Eagle Pottery hired ceramist Arthur Dovey and began producing the first works in a new product line named Niloak Pottery. Sales of the new work boomed, and Eagle Pottery subsequently formed the Niloak Pottery Company, a branch solely dedicated to producing the Niloak line. Read More

In 1946, William Swallow won several prizes at the 11th Ceramic National at the Syracuse Museum of Fine Arts (today the Everson Museum). Among his many accolades, The Cow with the Silver Horns received a purchase prize from the National Sculpture Society as a “work of sculpture possessing the highest sculptural quality regardless of production methods.” Despite having only worked in ceramics for about three years, Swallow’s work exhibited a clear mastery of medium and form. Unique to Swallow was his choice in subject matter, which was an artistic celebration of Pennsylvania Dutch life. Read More

Fulper Pottery Company grew out of Hill Pottery, which was founded in 1814 in Flemington, New Jersey. Hill Pottery used local red earthenware clay to make utilitarian objects such as drainpipes, storage crocks, and jars. When Hill Pottery owner Samuel Hill died in 1858, his employee Abram Fulper bought most of Hill’s remaining stock and took over the company. Under Abram’s leadership, the company continued to produce utilitarian wares, including crocks and other fireproof cookware. Abram passed away in 1881, at which time his four sons inherited the company, changing its name to G.W. Fulper & Brothers and then to Fulper Brothers, before finally incorporating it as Fulper Pottery Company in 1899. Read More

Charles Loring Elliott (1812-1868) was a prolific portrait painter from Central New York. Born in Scipio, NY, Elliott spent most of his childhood in Syracuse, where his father was an architect and building contractor. Elliott devoted his childhood leisure to sketching and experimenting with oil paint, while occasionally making architectural drawings for his father. Shortly after his high school graduation, Elliott travelled to New York to study painting with John Trumbull, popular painter and president of the New York Academy of Fine Arts. Elliott did not enjoy Trumbull’s teaching style, and so he sought out John Quidor, a figure painter residing in New York, who proceeded to give Elliott the only formal training of his career. Read More