Author: Laban Carrick Hill
Illustrator: Bryan Collier
Copyright: 2010
ISBN: 978-0-316-10731-0
Dave the Potter is a hauntingly simple story written in verse and telling what little we know about a slave who lived in the 1800's named Dave. "To us it is just dirt, the ground we walk on," but to the potter clay is everything that he lives for.
This week at the library we have been holding our Art Adventures program during Presidents week winter break. Many of the artists that I have shared with the participants have been well known, Warhol, Picasso, O'Keeffe. Nothing unusual or surprising, up until Thursday that is. On Thursday we are celebrating the work of two very different Potters, Dave who lived in South Carolina as a slave, and George Ohr who lived in Biloxi, The lives of these two men overlapped though they never met.
February is Black History month and today I highly recommend that everyone pick up a copy of Dave the Potter to share with your students, children, or friends. It tells the remarkable story of a slave who still managed to leave his mark on the world through the poems he etched into his jars. The illustrations by Bryan Collier show what Dave's studio and life might have looked like. The details included in the illustrations of Dave throwing pots is mesmerizing and for anyone who has worked with clay will recognize the steps are just right.
"Dave belongs to Mr. Miles/
wher the oven bakes & the pot biles///
--July 31, 1840"
The last few pages contain historical information about Dave's life as a slave, his work as a potter, and his haunting pottery that has left it's mark on the world.
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