"The Black Potter" Visits Dickson Elementary

Edgewood potter and artist Jim McDowell visited Dickson Elementary in Swissvale Monday morning, where he demonstrated how to use a pottery wheel and showed some of his own traditional face jugs.

McDowell discussed African-American history and the tradition of creating face jugs, which goes back to the era of slavery. McDowell creates jugs with faces and writes poetry on the backs of them.

The students related the demonstration to a recent book read in class, "Dave the Potter," a true story about a slave in South Carolina who was a skilled potter and poet. While tombstones for slaves were illegal, oftentimes a face jug or other pieces of pottery were used instead. McDowell's own ancestors were face jug potters as well.