ABOUT US
The Catawba Nation, located 8 miles east of Rock Hill, South Carolina, is the home to a highly creative group of Native American potters. Scholars tell us the Catawba Indians are aboriginal to the Carolinas and that the Catawba pottery tradition has survived for over 4,500 years, long before the craft made its debut in the Southwest. The tradition has been passed on within the Nation and has survived contact with Europeans, wars, centuries of economic and cultural stresses and contact with modern technology including glazes, paints and the potter's wheel. In spite of these outside influences, the pottery tradition has remained as one of the purest art forms of its kind.
The Catawba tribal roll contains approximately 2,600 names. About 50 adult Indians make and sell pottery on a regular basis. Another 150 people support the potters by digging clay and firing the wares. Approximately 50 Catawba children also make pottery and pottery classes are taught within the Reservation with hopes of keeping the tradition alive. Catawba pottery is hand-built, burnished, and fired using primitive techniques.