2007-01 Bowl with Wagnerian Flying Creatures

The parade of three flying creatures is not evenly spaced, nor are they identical. This is a spirited, folk-art pot that makes me smile. Patricia, the younger sister of Juanita Healing (see the Artist List), was born on St. Patrick’s Day in 1919, and she learned to make pottery from her father’s mother. The mother of eight children, she did not have much time to make pottery (Collins, 1977:13). Collins also prints her photograph. According to Schaaf (1998) Patricia produced pottery from about 1960 to 1987. If these dates are accurate, she began producing pottery rather late in life—presumably, after her children were grown.