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Poor Traits: Pottery City

Pfeil, Nicklaus Charles
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1493148806091519

Abstract Details

2017, MA, Kent State University, College of the Arts / School of Art.
In this body of work I am addressing some of the social issues of the small Rust Belt city that I grew up in which include poverty, addiction and loss of the labor industries. Located on the banks of the Ohio River, East Liverpool, Ohio became impoverished during the Great Depression and never quite recovered from it. It has a unique story, it was the pottery capital of the United States for a brief period and this is still very important to the local community. It is kept alive by local historians and collectors, a museum which features ceramics from the local potteries and three potteries which are still in operation today. The artwork that I created around this history includes symbols from the region filtered through my personal lens. There are underlying themes addressing my personal view on classism which was shaped by many artists such as Diego Rivera, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, and Walid Raad as well as the novella Flatland by Edwin Abbott and the writings of Karl Marx. Flatland is represented visually through the geometric cobalt drawings on the ceramics; the triangles and lines represent the working class and women of the community within the universe of Flatland. The geometric pattern also represents my own thoughts on classism and inequality. The English potters who came and established the pottery industry in East Liverpool created pottery within the European tradition which included white porcelain with intricate cobalt drawings. My pattern is a looser and more gestural riff on this tradition. I have also drawn from particular memories in my childhood, for example, the days that I witnessed the coal barges being pushed down the river towards the power plant in Shippingport, Pennsylvania. All of these things coalesce in this body of work to tell a personal story about the history of East Liverpool, Ohio and the swift loss of its chief source of pride.
Isabel Farnsworth (Advisor)
Taryn McMahon (Committee Member)
John-Michael Warner (Committee Member)
23 p.
Fine Arts
Fine Arts; Sculpture; Printmaking; Poverty; Addiction; Labor; East Liverpool; Ohio; Rust Belt; Ceramics; Pottery; Water; Classism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Pfeil, N. C. (2017). Poor Traits: Pottery City [Master's thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1493148806091519

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Pfeil, Nicklaus. Poor Traits: Pottery City. 2017. Kent State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1493148806091519.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Pfeil, Nicklaus. "Poor Traits: Pottery City." Master's thesis, Kent State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1493148806091519

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

kent1493148806091519
390
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Kent State University and OhioLINK.