(3) American Swirl Vases, 2 Niloak by Eagle Pottery and 1 by William J. Gordy (1910-1993) Paper labels on them with information and prior pricing. Marked on bottoms.
Condition: Commensurate with age.
Tallest Size: 4 x 4 x 8 1/2 in.
Niloak is a line of American Arts and Crafts pottery produced by the Eagle Pottery Company of Benton, Arkansas. Eagle was founded by Charles Dean Hyten and his brothers in the 1890s and was the largest pottery-ware business in the Benton area by 1904. The name is the reverse spelling of kaolin, the main ingredient of porcelain. In 1909 Arthur Dovey joined Eagle to help Hyten, by then sole owner of the company, develop an operation for the manufacture of art pottery. Together they produced the Niloak product, an unglazed stoneware line which became so successful that it was their primary output for the next thirty years. The salient feature of Niloak was its “Mission Swirl,” a multi-colored twisting pattern using different clays that resembled marbled paper. Niloak’s Mission Swirl was usually of red, tan, blue and brown in a counter-clockwise direction, although some rare pieces incorporate brighter hues. During the Depression years Eagle manufactured a special line of Niloak called “Hywood” to try to expand their market, but materials shortages and World War II took its toll with over half the workforce drafted to fight. In 1946 the company closed for good, and today their swirled pieces are extremely rare and highly sought after by collectors.
William Joseph Gordy was born on May 18th, 1910 in Aberdeen, Georgia. His father was a potter who owned his own business in Alvaton, Georgia. He learned to make pottery by watching the men his father had hired from all over the United States as they made primarily butter churns, jars, pitchers, and jugs. In the late 1920s he left his father’s shop to get hands-on work in several pottery businesses in North Carolina and Georgia, seeing and learning new techniques. In 1935 he settled in Cartersville, Georgia, where he married his wife, Jewell. They raised three daughters and two sons while opening and maintaining their own pottery studio, where he made the pottery while his wife handled the business and sales. He enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor and served on a destroyer throughout much of World War II, traveling to different ports and seeing the local pottery, which further influenced his style. When he returned to Cartersville he became a lifetime member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, and worked for several years as an instructor at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina. Gordy was one of the first folk potters in Georgia to transition from the common, functional, utilitarian style to an artistic style. Both Cornelius Vanderbilt and Sir John Wedgwood visited him in his studio and purchased several sets of pottery from him. Gordy not only had his own signature style of pottery but also created his own blend of clay and exclusive colored glazes, and was known for experimenting with the remarkably rich red kaolin that Georgia is now known for. He passed away at his home on August 19th, 1993, working in his studio right up to the day of his death. His pottery has been on permanent display in the Smithsonian Institution since 1940, and he received the Governor’s Award in the Arts in 1983 and the Heritage Award from Bartow County in 1985. His grandson, Darrell Adams, continues to make pottery at the same facility using his grandfather’s techniques, and his studio is listed as a historical site in the state of Georgia, with the Encyclopedia Britannica at one time listing W. J. Gordy as “the foremost potter in the southeastern United States.”
Commensurate with age.
