The other day here in Marshall missouri the local thrift store ‘the village cellar’ reopened as the ‘powerhouse’. I have been enjoying shopping there a few times a week. Last week i came across something very interesting. A thin walled pitcher with a stylized dragon head spout. I claimed it and took a selfie in memory of the moment.
Impossible odds but this may be a piece by the renowned American arts and crafts potter of the late 19th early 20th century George E.Ohr of Biloxi Mississippi. He was very eccentric and embodied the Do it yourself ethos of the Arts and Crafts era.
Geo. E. Ohr won second place in the 1904 st. Louis worlds fair though boasting he was the greatest potter in recorded history. It took him a whole year to save enough money to afford transportation of his wares and self the return trip to Biloxi from St. louis.
Here is a picture of his Biloxi pottery that he had built after his first one had burnt down. He put his heart and soul into each piece of work. Even after they had been damaged in the fire he still valued them calling them his ‘burnt babies’
As you can see in this next photo from a screenshot of a search. george was very eccentric growing his beard out. He would create humorous advertising slogans and write zen koan like poems upon his love of creating pottery and art. He said that when he found the art of pottery he took to it like a ‘duck to water’.
He was very odd about selling his work. If he liked you he would sell it to you very cheap but for most tourists he put exorbitantly high prices touting that he would one day donate them to the Smithsonian institue.
It wasnt til the early 1970’s when a dealer rediscovered the forgotten legends work and arranged the entire lot purchased. They say the truckload made its journey to the art worlds headquarters in new york city on a precarious icy snowbound voyage. Here is a picture of my 2015 trip to biloxi mississippi with my lifelong friend alex melise holloway. We explored the site where Ohrs pottery once stood.
You can see the Beau Riviage luxery casino hotel behind him to the south.
On a previous trip in 2017 with my wife at the time Ana we visited with a descendent of George E. Ohr. Ana is an amazing potter on her own accord and was the resident artist of Soulard for a few years. Here she is holding a piece by the mad potter himself.
That day with alex i had discovered a penny dated 1901 at the exact spot he was pointing downward at as seen in an earlier photo. Truly an amazing event. For me it was a deep connection to his story and reality. Impossible odds!
It has been my pleasure sharing my love of the mad potter of biloxi and his art with you all. I plan to share pt 2 with you all soon showing you my collection of Ohr collecting over the course of 20yrs and photos of the Ohr/O’keefe museum in which Ana and myself helped sponser its construction.
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