Lunch-and-Learn with Aaron Baumgardner: Material Science and Catawba Pottery Practices

Join us for a Lunch-and-Learn with Catawba artist Aaron Baumgardner as he shares his ongoing research into one of the most pressing challenges facing the Catawba pottery tradition. For more than 4,000 years, Catawba pottery has endured through adaptation, but now, the Nation faces a crisis. The primary historical source for pan clay is no longer accessible to Tribal citizens due to urban development. Additionally, the stockpiles stored by individual potters and held for the broader community are nearly depleted. Drawing on archeological evidence and ancestral practices, Baumgardner worked with nine Catawba potters to test new temper materials including shell, soapstone, bone, sand, and grog, to determine the best temper to sustain the Catawba pottery tradition.