Jeri Redcorn revives Caddo pottery tradition

ABOUT THE ARTIST

“How a little girl from Washita County grew up to be an international artistic ambassador, her work admired by the most powerful couple in the world, is a fascinating story.  Redcorn also is a wife, mother, and has been an artist in residence at the Art Institute of Chicago.”    Doug Hill, Norman Transcript.

In the Art Institute of Chicago, Hero, Hawk & Open Hand, Jeri tells her story of reviving Caddo Pottery and connecting to her cultural past.  After seeing Caddo vessels in a museum, so compelling were these beautiful pieces, Jeri began a search to reclaim her history.  As there was no active potter in the Caddo tribe, Jeri began to teach herself.  Thus began her journey to rediscover the art of Caddo clay.

Jeri saw the pots of her ancestors, a tradition that had been lost except in exhibition in museums. We will be going to the Museum of the Red River and interviewing the director Henry Moy where Jeri saw her first ancient Caddo pots.

http://www.museumoftheredriver.org/

She now mentors others in the art of Caddo pottery which she hand coils, burnishes with stones, engraves and wood fires. If the weather permits we will see her do a firing as well as looking at her pots in progress and completed.

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This pot was chosen by President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to become part of the White House collection and sits on the president's desk where he will see it every day. It is entitled "Intertwining Scrolls" and we will talk to Jeri more about the symbolism in her pots when we interview her in May.

Come back to this blog to see production stills and hear more about Jeri before our documentaries premiere in Fall 2011.

"Intertwining Scrolls" courtesy of Jeri Redcorn copyright