Join us for our regular monthly meeting! We’ll hear from our speaker, Bill Harris, on traditional Catawba pottery, at 6:30PM. After Bill presents, we’ll break for snacks and social, before returning for any regular business.

Bill Harris is a Master Catawba clay artist. Catawba pottery is an indigenous art form that dates back at least 4000 years and has survived without a generational stop. What began as a tradition of function has extended to a true form of art. Bill was taught to make pottery by his grandmother, renowned Catawba potter, Georgia Harris. Georgia taught him how to find the clay needed to make Catawba pottery from our tribal clay hole. She showed him how to process the clay and how to form the clay using coils. She also showed him how to use river rocks to rub the pots and create the smooth surface of Catawba pottery. Lastly, she showed him the final step of tempering the pots in an open fire, creating the black, gray, and earthy brown colors of the completed product. After his grandmother died, he inherited a box of seashells, broken spoons, and other primitive tools that she used for over 75 years to make her pots. In 2016, Bill was awarded the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage award from the SC Arts Commission, in 2023 he was Artist in Residence at the Native American Studies Center at USCL, and in 2024 he was awarded with the TapRoot Fellowship in Traditional Arts. He was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Davidson College in May 2025 for his contributions to the Catawba Nation in both his leadership and preservation of Catawba pottery. He brings with him, Elizabeth Harris, his student of traditional Catawba clay. 

"When I watch my hands making Catawba pottery, I see my grandmother’s hands. The tradition connects us. While I enjoy creating Catawba pottery, the thing that I find most important is to teach others just as my grandmother taught me." - Bill Harris