CALIFORNIA POTTERY INDEX - EXAMPLES AND PRICES ON CLASSIC CALIFORNIA ART POTTERY

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I am a fan of California Pottery. The first piece of California Pottery I ever picked up was a little green Metlox flower pot. It still sits on my dresser collecting nickels. Quarters get dropped into a California Aztec juice glass. Dimes drop into an Apache red Pacific coffee cup, and pennies into a little Winfield teapot.
The heyday of California pottery was the 1940s and 50s. Dozens of potters were in full production, mostly in the Los Angeles area. Some of the famous names like Bauer and Vernon Kilns were industry leaders with national distribution. Some of the smaller concerns didn't get out of the state.
I've built this site as a fan of California Pottery...and I hope other fans will find it of use. I think you'll find the eBay search links easy to use, and not cluttered with similarly named items (I like Bauer and I like Jack Bauer, but not in the same search). Your suggestions and comments about the California Pottery Index are always wanted...your emails are welcome at richtubbs(at)charter(dot)net

  California Pottery Index

Ernest Batchelder established a tile studio in Pasadena, California, in 1909 and expanded until 1916. Then he built a larger factory with a new partner. The Batchelder-Wilson Company made tiles, garden pots...CLICK FOR MORE

Bauer Pottery Starting in Louisville, Kentucky, and then flourishing in Los Angeles, California, J. A. Bauer Pottery Company created simple, yet beautiful stoneware from...CLICK FOR MORE

Marc Bellaire was born in 1925 in Toledo, Ohio. Marc Bellaire studied at the Toledo Museum of Art while employed at the Libby Glass Company. He moved to California...CLICK FOR MORE

Sascha Brastoff made decorative accessories, ceramics, enamels on copper, and plastics of his own design. He headed a factory, Sascha Brastoff of California, Inc., in West Los Angeles...CLICK FOR MORE

Durlin E. Brayton made handcrafted vases, lamps, and dinnerware in a small kiln at his Laguna Beach, California, home beginning in 1927. With his wife as his partner, Brayton Laguna Pottery became a successful business...CLICK FOR MORE

Catalina Island pottery was produced on the island of the same name, about 26 miles off the California coast. Catalina Clay Products produced mainly brick and tile for island construction, but garden pieces were also produced, and later...CLICK FOR MORE

The California Cleminsons, George and Betty, Started their business at their El Monte, California home in 1941. The Cleminsons were so successful that they eventually expanded to a modern plant with over 150 workers. Clemenson produced...CLICK FOR MORE

Kay Finch Ceramics began in 1939 in a studio next to Kay and Braden Finch's home in Corona del Mar. With early success Kay Finch moved to a studio and retail showroom on the Pacific Coast Highway...CLICK FOR MORE

Florence Ceramics The Florence of Florence Ceramics Company was Florence Ward, who started the company in her Pasadena garage in 1939. After attending a ceramics class...CLICK FOR MORE  

Franciscan Ware The Franciscan Dinnerware and China Company started up in 1875 as a sewer tile manufacturer. The company expanded slowly over a period of 60 years...CLICK FOR MORE

Freeman-McFarlin Potteries began in the mid-1940s as a partnership between Gerald McFarlin and Maynard Anthony Freeman. McFarlin was the businessman of the pair and an established...CLICK FOR MORE

Gladding, McBean & Company, founded in 1875 by Charles Gladding, Peter McBean, and George Chambers in Lincoln, California. Gladding-McBean soon became the major manufacturer of sewer pipe west of the Mississippi. In the early 1930s...CLICK FOR MORE

Hagen-Renaker Pottery got its start in Culver City in the early 1940's, when John and Maxine Renaker, began experimenting in their garage with various types of ceramics. When Maxine sculpted three small ducks...CLICK FOR MORE

Haldeman Pottery was founded by Virgil and Anna Haldeman in Burbank in 1933. Previously Virgil had worked at Catalina Clay Products, specializing in glaze chemistry. Haldeman Pottery was sold under the Caliente trade-name...CLICK FOR MORE

Brad Keeler was born in Lincoln, where his father was a ceramic engineer for the local Gladding-McBean plant. After studying art at USC,  Brad Keeler opened his own Glendale studio where he created naturalistic figures of birds and animals. These were air-brush...CLICK FOR MORE

William Manker, fresh out of design school, began his ceramics career with Batchelder-Wilson Tile Company in 1926. In 1932 William Manker opened his own Pasadena studio and quickly attracted a following...CLICK FOR MORE

Metlox Potteries of Manhattan Beach was founded in 1927 by T. C. Prouty and his son Willis for the making of ceramic outdoor signs. After T. C. died in 1931, Willis reorganized Metlox Potteries and moved into the manufacture of dinnerware. The first colored set, California Pottery, came out in 1931...CLICK FOR MORE

Betty Lou Nichols first discovered ceramics at Fullerton Junior College where she was an art major. When her husband joined the military in 1940, Betty Lou Nichols moved in with her parents in La Habra and set up a small kiln in their backyard where she began to produce figural...CLICK FOR MORE

Pacific Pottery began as Pacific Clay Products Co. in the Lincoln Heights district of Los Angeles when William Lacy brought together several potteries in the early 1920s to create the firm. The company's early products were focused on...CLICK FOR MORE

Howard Pierce moved to California in 1935, soon finding employment in ceramic production at William Manker's Claremont plant. Howard Pierce opened his own studio in Claremont in 1941 but due to World War II...CLICK FOR MORE

Roselane Pottery was founded in 1938 by William and Georgia Fields, working out of their Pasadena home. Roselane Pottery at first produced figurines for the local florist trade, but by the early forties their attractive figurines were finding a retail market...CLICK FOR MORE

Hedi Schoop was an accomplished dancer in Germany, married to a well-known composer, Frederick Hollander. In 1933 Hedi Schoop and her husband fled Nazi Germany. After settling in Hollywood she began...CLICK FOR MORE

Twin Winton Ceramics was started by twin brothers Don and Ross Winton in Pasadena in 1936. While still in high school the twins, along with partner Helen Burke, had a profitable business making and selling clay cartoon animals. In 1939 the brothers...CLICK FOR MORE

Vernon Kilns was founded in July 1931 after Faye G. Bennison purchased Poxon China Company in Vernon, now part of Los Angeles. Vernon Kilns continued using Poxon shapes for some time before an earthquake in 1933 forced...CLICK FOR MORE

Wallace China was founded in 1931 by Wallace B. Wood, his son Frank. and other former associates of Poxon China Company. Wallace China moved into a large factory in Huntington Park and George Poxon was hired by the company which...CLICK FOR MORE

The Will-George Company was founded in 1934 by William and George Climes in William's Los Angeles garage. Will-George manufactured high-quality artware of porcelain and earthenware. In the late thirties their work came to the attention of actor Edgar Bergen who...CLICK FOR MORE

Barbara Willis studied ceramics at UCLA and after graduating in 1940 opened a small studio behind the family home in Los Angeles. By 1942 Barbara Willis was producing her "Terrene Pottery," mostly vases and flower bowls, for the local...CLICK FOR MORE

Winfield Pottery was founded in Pasadena in 1929 by Leslie Winfield Sample. With just one kiln he produced a line of distinctive art pottery and in the evenings ran the "School of Clayworking." In 1935 Winfield Pottery moved to a larger Pasadena...CLICK FOR MORE

Additional California Potters

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A CALIFORNIA POTTERY BLOG
Winfield Tahoe
Over at the Winfield Pottery page at California Pottery Index, Robbin Walker commented:
I have 4 round plates/ 2 bowls with what appears to be a version of the Tahoe pattern --the back of the plates say Gabriel Pasadena 227 and the bowls only say 182. I would like to find more of these items--any ideas or help would be appreciated. thanks Your site was very helpful!
Winfield Tahoe is a very classy dinnerware pattern, featuring pine cones and pine needles with a deep gray border. Not surprising that its hard to find as none of the Winfield patterns were what you would call "overproduced." A quick look at Replacements.com turns up nothing in stock.

I would think the best bet is keeping an eye on the eBay listings and grab a piece when you can.

Freeman-McFarlin Indian Chief on Horseback
Over at California Pottery Index, Ron Carnes posted a question to us...

Help! We just acquired a large statue (19" tall) of a Native American Indian Chief seated on a horse with his right arm upraised. This is marked on the bottom Anthony California USA 168. The odd thing about this piece is that it seems to be made of metal, not ceramic. It is hollow and has a distinct metallic ring when struck lightly with another piece of metal. Both Indian and horse are done in an odd antiqued matte brown finish, and the Indian wears a white chief's headdress. From the signature, I believe this is a Maynard Anthony Freeman piece -- any ideas on what I have here? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Capt'n Ron

Our Answer to Ron

Hey Cap, I'd say what you have is a Freeman-McFarlin piece...it is hard, that's what keeps the chief from having a stump at the shoulder. The glaze sounds like the FM woodtone finish.
A place called the "Black Horse Ranch" has an example pictured in their online collection of ceramic horses, which is pretty cool in itself - check about a third of the way down in pic labeled "#C Upper".
Value? I'm not certain but would put it at least $125-150.

and here's a pic of the Chief from the Black Horse Ranch collection. Very cool piece.


Freeman McFarlin Mermaid Dish

Isn't she a Sweetheart...1957 Freeman McFarlin Mermaid Dish.

Freeman-McFarlin Potteries began in the mid-1940s as a partnership between Gerald McFarlin and Maynard Anthony Freeman. McFarlin was the businessman of the pair and an established Southern California potter, having operated McFarlin Potteries in El Monte since 1927. Freeman was fresh out of the service and ready to try his hand at pottery design.
Most popular items from the company were the slip-cast earthenware sculptures of various animals; horses, dogs, cats, mice, coyotes, giraffes, owls, ducks and more.


Otto Heino in Ojai


I don't know how long Otto Heino has had a website, but I just found it today. Mr. Heino has been throwing pots for over 50 years, and he's still working out of his Ojai studio...Otto's Pottery on McAndrew Road in Ojai.

The beautiful bowl to the left is a 12" bowl with oatmeal glaze with copper red. Absolutely wonderful


Check the website for a look at some of Otto's beautiful work, especially note the high-temperature yellow glaze that he has developed.
Otto Heino, one of the great California studio potters.

Mudman Standing on Barbara Willis
Ask me about Mudmen and my thoughts immediately jump to some sort of creature from the blackest of lagoons. "Mudmen!" I shout, "Mudmen scare me! Keep the Mudmen away from me!"
I don't know anything about mudmen, except what I just read on this webpage about mudmen. In short, mudmen are small ceramic figures incorporated into tabletop bonsai displays...little dioramas depicting Chinese village life.
On eBay right now is this Mudman fellow standing in the shrubbery. I don't know anything about him. I don't know anything about his greenery. But I do know that he is standing in a sweet mid-1940s Barbara Willis low bowl...square, chartreuse with tooled unglazed sides, about 5 and half inches square.
I wonder how hard it would be to de-Mudman this thing? I wonder how much I would regret doing that later?

Potter's Art in California
I picked up a book last week that I recommend to all fans of California Pottery...The Potter's Art in California 1885 to 1955 by Hazel V. Bray. Published in 1980, this is the catalogue for a 1978 exhibit at Oakland Museum and Scripps College. Excellent information on the early potters of California...Alexander W. Robertson, Ernest Batchelder, Arequipa Pottery, Rhead Pottery and others from before the Great Depression. These are all the great artists who preceded the Mid-Century Modern crowd with whom California Pottery is most often associated. Those people are in here too...the great studio potters of 1940 to 1955...Glen Lukens, William Manker, Otto Heino, Edith Heath, Laura Andreson and others. Best part of the book are the super color and black and white photos of representative pieces.
Up top is a picture of some Arequipa Pottery from about 1913...a "Madrona" vase by Albert L. Solon and a beautiful green bowl by Frederick H. Rhead. The bottom pic shows a couple of bowls by Manuel Jalanivich and Ingevardt Olsen as well as a 1937 yellow plate by Glen Lukens.
The Potter's Art in California 1885-1955 is a wonderful addition for your California Pottery bookshelf. It's long out of print, but luckily its readily available from online booksellers...find it on Abebooks

D and M Tile and Hispano-Moresque Tile

Stumbled upon an interesting bit of info on a couple of mostly-forgotten Los Angeles tile makes...D and M Tile Company and Hispano-Moresque Tile. The California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica has had a display on the two companies for the past year and the basic info is still up on the museum website.

Arequipa T-Shirt on Cafepress
I was reading the story of the Arequipa Sanitorium and its production of art pottery on the Oakland Museum of California website.
Very interesting stuff. Sadly, I'll probably never own a piece of Arequipa Pottery. I'll never have an Arequipa vase or bowl. A single piece of Arequipa tile is beyond my reach. So how about an Arequipa T-Shirt? That I can handle! I worked up this design for my RetroRanger Cafepress store last night. It utilizes a couple of Arequipa marks...the crossed initials and the tree with vase mark. It's a RetroRanger exclusive...Woo Hoo!

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