Comment | Dave the Potter finally becomes a complete artist

"David Drake, also known as Dave the Potter, is perhaps America's finest ceramicist and one of the earliest known African American poets, but until now, you could argue that he was not truly an artist. Born into slavery around 1801 in South Carolina, Drake created monumental stoneware jars combining structural mastery with artistic beauty. Today, they are celebrated as among the most important achievements in American ceramics."

"But their most impressive feature is not their size, strength or even the ochre dripping glaze effect Drake mastered-it was what he wrote on them. At a time when it was a crime in many states in the South to teach enslaved people to read or write, Drake defiantly inscribed his name and polysemous verses of poetry onto his jars."

Born into slavery around 1801 in South Carolina, David Drake produced monumental stoneware jars that combined structural mastery with aesthetic beauty. The jars are celebrated as among the most important achievements in American ceramics. Drake inscribed his name and polysemous verses onto the vessels at a time when teaching enslaved people to read or write was a crime in many Southern states. Each etched word functioned as an act of rebellion and a declaration that bondage could not silence spirit. Those works testify to the complicated concatenation of captivity and creativity, of bondage and beauty. Artistic ownership and the right to control and benefit from creation are presented as inalienable.

Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events