Who is Georgia Harris?

Born on July 29, 1905, in Lancaster County, South Carolina, Georgia Harris dedicated her life to preserving the ancient tradition of Catawba pottery. She learned the craft from her mother and grandmother at just nine years old. Within the Catawba Nation, pottery-making has long been passed down through families, generation to generation.

"I just fooled around with it when I was a kid … just making little old things … didn’t make anything worthwhile. But after I got a little bigger, we’d make something look pretty good and then we’d start to tearing it up. And my mother would say, ‘Leave that alone … put it down. If you tear up everything you got, you’ll never learn how to make a pot!’"
 

From the 1930s to the 1960s, demand for cheaply made goods at tourist centers nearly pushed the Catawba pottery tradition to the brink. But Georgia Harris refused to compromise. She continued creating museum-quality pieces—large and small vessels, utilitarian wares, and traditional smoking pipes.

"When you make anything, make it to where it can be used," she often said.
 

Harris played a key role in reviving traditional pipemaking by reintroducing the squeeze mold—originally borrowed from Moravian immigrants in the 1800s and adapted for Catawba use. She also expanded the Catawba artistic repertoire with distinctive forms such as:

• The graceful snake pitcher, derived from the ancient "snake pot" effigy
   
• The long-necked pitcher
   
• The "wedding jug", now iconic in Catawba pottery
   

Georgia Harris wasn’t just an artist—she was a mentor and a teacher to many apprentices. For her, making pottery was a joy.

"I like to make them when I feel good. My husband used to get after me … 'Why don’t you quit doing that?' And I said, 'Well, I like to do it.' He says, 'There’s a lot of hard work in it.' And I said, 'I know it. It’s a lot of fun, too.'"
 

In 1973, Harris was featured in an exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art—the first time traditional Catawba pottery was showcased as fine art. She paved the way for Catawba clay to be recognized and valued as a high-quality, meaningful art form.

Georgia Harris was named a Master Potter by the Catawba community. Her work has been collected by museums and private collectors across the world. In 1997, she received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts—the highest honor for traditional artists in the United States.

The Georgia Harris Foundation exists to carry forward her vision—preserving and teaching the traditional methods of Catawba pottery so that future generations can continue this 4,000-year-old legacy.

Portions of this biography were adapted from the NEA website: https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/georgia-harris