In this Pottery Playshop, you will make a piece of pottery with the same methods used by the Fort Ancient Indigenous peoples who lived in the Ohio River Valley around 1000-1750 CE. The Fort Ancient peoples were Ohio’s original farmers! They are believed to be descendants of the Adena and Hopewell peoples and ancestors of the Shawnee.

You will learn the coil-building method and the Fort Ancient style incised decoration used to create your piece, and although the Fort Ancient people used open fires and shallow pits to fire their pottery, Primitive Mud Pottery will finish your pot in a kiln. Your piece will be ready for pick-up in about 2 weeks.

Creative option: you can add a few holes and make your pot into a planter!

This unique experience is supported in part by a seed grant from Ohio’s Winding Road.

Parking: You can use the first 7 spots in the adjacent parking lot (left of the gallery- ignore the sign). Other parking lots can be found on this map