Exhibition Guide

Niloak Pottery produced these vessels with varied swirls of red, blue, gray, brown, and cream in simple shapes and with unglazed exteriors—characteristics that highlighted the local Arkansas kaolin clay from which they were made. Though marketed as “wholly natural,” the colors came from oxides (chemical compounds) added to the clay to produce different colors, such as cobalt for blue or ferric for red, which were then combined through a patented process. The swirled clay means that no two vessels are alike. The first exhibition of Niloak vessels took place in 1910 in Little Rock, Arkansas, during a convention promoting economic development, placing the natural resources of the state on display through the medium of craft.