photo: Rob Amberg

Dorothy and Walter Auman

Art Form: Folk/Traditional Crafts and Visual Arts

Seagrove, NC

 

About Dorothy and Walter Auman

Dorothy and Walter Auman devoted their lives to the practice and preservation of production pottery-making, a 200 year-old tradition in the eastern piedmont. They operated Seagrove Pottery since 1953, where they created both the utilitarian forms of the 19th century, such as the milk crock and baking dish, and the more decorative wares that came to be popular in the 1930s and '40s. The Aumans had a complementary working relationship. While she turned rack after rack of pie dishes or beanpots, he prepared the clay, mixed the glazes, and burned the kiln.

Descended from a long line of Cole family potters, Dorothy Cole Auman was born in 1925 near Seagrove in Randolph County and learned her craft as a child from her father Charles C. Cole and her great uncle Wren (Lorenzo) Cole. A self-proclaimed tomboy, she was probably the second woman in her area, after Nell Cole Graves, to become a turner. This most skillful part of the pottery trade was generally considered the domain of men.

Walter Snoten Auman was born in the same area in 1926. He was not raised around a pottery shop like his wife, although his grandfather was a potter during the late 19th century, and his father had occasionally hauled wares or helped out at shops when he wasn't farming. He learned the pottery business primarily by working for Dorothy's father.

The contributions that Dorothy and Walter Auman made to their craft tradition went far beyond the wares they turned out daily at Seagrove Pottery. During the 1960s, when business was slow, they worked with state officials to develop a promotional campaign for the potteries that soon brought new customers to their doorsteps. Partly as a result of their efforts, area potters have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity over the last 40 years.

Equally important was their long-standing mission to recover the centuries-old history of pottery-making in the region. They were involved in a number of archeological digs, most significantly at Mt. Shepherd near Asheboro. The Aumans first recognized the importance of this 18th century kiln site, one of the oldest in the eastern United States, and funded its excavation. Through the years they were avid researchers and collectors of pottery artifacts, many of which they displayed in their museum adjacent to the shop. Their valuable collection was purchased in the late 1980s by the Mint Museum of Charlotte.