SHOONER AMERICAN REDWARE Holiday Ohio Christmas Plate Signed and Dated Circa 1994

This is a beautiful piece of redware by the renowned SHOONER AMERICAN REDWARE of Oregonia, Ohio. Shooner American Redware aka Greg Shooner Pottery was founded by Greg and Mary Shooner who went on to establish a reputation for re-creating authentic American redware.  

Redware is an earthenware pottery utilizing a red to pinkish burning clay body and was among the very first commercial products to be manufactured and used by European settlers to North America. Its fragile nature and its lead glaze rendered it obsolete as soon as an economically feasible alternative (salt-glazed stoneware, tin or glass) was available. 

The one-of-a-kind piece was made and signed by Mary in 1994.  The holiday design celebrates Christmas with the words Ohio Christmas in script across the front of the dish.  The back of the dish is incised with the following:

The red clay dish is about 6" in diameter and is lead glazed.  It is purposely distressed, including the chips on its edges to give it a realistic time-worn look.  Keeping that in mind, it is in fantastic condition and would be a perfect gift for your antique lover, folk art collector or pottery collector.

ABOUT SHOONER POTTERY: Pottery, folk art and period enthusiasts of early American life everywhere covet the work of Greg and Mary Spellmire-Shooner.  Recreating authentic redware pottery at their Oregonia, Ohio, studio, they continue the traditions of American potters dating to 1630. 

The Shooners use their years of pottery experience to make a ware that is unrivaled in its interpretation of rare antiques. They work alone, with a passionate commitment to quality and artistic control. A lifelong interest in art led them separately to pottery, then together to the study of redware.

The have been selected as one of America's top traditional craftsmen for over 25 years by Early American Life magazine and Midwest Living magazine considered their work as “Best of the Midwest”.  Additionally, they have lectured and demonstrated their work at museums and conferences, including the American Ceramics Conference at Winterthur Museum, the Ceramics in America conference at Eastfield Village, the College of William and Mary, and New York University.