Little history of St. Lawrence ceramics

The earliest records of ceramics entering Canada is from the south east, along the shores of the St. Lawrence. Tribal Groups in this area which contributed significantly to these early ceramics were both Iroquois and Algonquian: Mohawk, Seneca, Onondaga, St. Lawrence, and Mohegan, Narragansett, Wampanoag, Pequot. 

How cool is that?! So The Clay Project, in the lowlands of the St. Lawrence Valley region, is actually working with the Ancestors of the First Peoples who initially brought the Tradition of Pottery into Canada. Thank you,  thank you! Meegwetch again and again.

I would love to go on and on about the history of ceramics in Canada, and perhaps one day I will as this is definitely a story which hasn't been told or written about in nearly enough detail. There are a number of great articles on the internet if you are willing to keep searching; these describe the movement of ceramics between Indigenous Tribes through trade and war, the important role ceramic tools and pots played in communities, and the different stories and tribal markings found as designs on traditional pots.

Deyohaha:ge: - The Indigenous Knowledge Centre, produced a wonderful paper, Hodinohso:ni - Art Lessons, to be used and shared for educational purposes. I plan on using many of their images to visualize the traditional designs used on pots in this area in hopes to inspire workshop participants to create designs for their own tiles. These Hodinohso:ni - Art Lessons also presented much information and credited many sources if anyone cares to research specifics further.

Deyohaha:ge: - Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Six Nations Polytechnic, PO Box 700, Grand River Territory, Ohsweken, ON, N0A 1M0

...here are some of my favourite pages....