ENGL 52.03 Dave the Potter: Slavery Between Pots and Poems

This course examines the work of David Drake, a South Carolinian slave who made some of the largest ceramic storage vessels in America during the 1850s, signing them and etching sayings and poems onto them as well. This seminar engages with Drake's poetry-pottery through critical and historical research, interpretive writing, and our own creative adventures in ceramic handicrafts. In addition to writing your own updated imitations of Dave Drake's poetry and attempting ceramic facsimiles of his earthenware, students will also spend time in the letterpress studio as a means of acquiring a deeper historical and aesthetic appreciation of Dave's life and work; it was while working as a typesetter for a regional newspaper that Dave acquired literacy. As a culminating assignment, students will contribute chapters to a scholarly book on Drake, which the instructor will edit.

Cross Listed Courses

AAAS 82.05 COCO 03.01

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:ART

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Department-Specific Course Categories

Course Group II