Bonnie Nelson spoke at the July 21 Front Porch Chat at the Stutsman County Memorial Museum on "North Dakota Pottery." Nelson said there were four major sources of collectible North Dakota pottery. The earliest and most well-known was produced by the University of North Dakota School of Mines under the direction of Margaret Cable.
Many other North Dakota pottery houses were started by students of Cable or instructors that she had hired to work at the UND site. Cable was head instructor of the Ceramics Department at UND for 39 years. Some of the instructors had unique styles that identifies their pieces, including Cable’s sister, Flora Huckfield, who often signed her pieces as simply “Huck”.
Laura Taylor served as the department supervisor in 1931-1933 and went on to start Rosemead Pottery. Julia Mattson was the last of the Cable associates to serve as the UND Ceramics Department supervisor; the longtime logo of the department was discontinued when she retired in 1963. Through the years they produced ceramics of many styles of pots and vases as well as tiles, bricks, figurines, ashtrays, salt and pepper shakers, banks, bookends, tea sets, rounds and small items such as curtain pulls and even pins and necklaces.
Dakota Pottery was started in 1934, in Dickinson, North Dakota. The name changed to Dickota Pottery and had several unique styles including a swirl technique that was invented by Howard Lewis. This pottery was shaped by the North Dakota Badlands and many motifs wer.