Clinchfield Artware - Things That Are Me

Clinchfield Artware is very much a part of me. This vase was left to me by my mother and she had only mentioned that it came from Erwin, Tennessee. Erwin was the birth place of her mother, who's maiden name was Cash. After further research I found out about the Cash Family Pottery which also used the name Clinchfield Artware. My fascination with this little vase goes much further when I discovered the origins of the potteries in Erwin.

Clinchfield Pottery was started in 1916 and the original pottery workers were from Ohio where they came to Erwin to teach the locals about making and painting pottery. Why I find this interesting is that my grandfather (who married my grandmother of the Cash family) was a pottery worker. After marrying, they ended up living in Ohio. I do not really know the story here, but for me I can imagine my grandfather as one of the artisans that came from Ohio to teach and maybe he met my grandmother and they fell in love. It is unfortunate that I do not know the real story behind their meeting and I do not really know if my grandmother was related to the Cash Family Pottery. But, you would think since back then Erwin was a very small town (It still is!) that there would be some kind of relation to the pottery.

A couple of summers ago I just happened to be in the area visiting my husband's relatives when the Cash Family Pottery Art show was going on in Erwin at the Unicoi High School. I met a lot of collectors and even had the chance to talk to an elderly woman who had known the Cash family. Unfortunately she did not connect my grandmother to the pottery, but even so, I still believe that there must be some kind of connection.

So while I was attending the event, I could not help but pick up a piece of pottery that had been recently done. This little cat creamer was about all I could afford at the time. But it is so cute. It is marked on the bottom "Hand painted By Thelma Garland.