Historical

Cowan Pottery in Lakewood


Cowan Pottery in Lakewood
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The year was 1912. The sidewalks were crowded with ladies wearing skirts and dresses and gentlemen wearing button-down shirts and dress pants. Back then, women and men would often wear fancy clothes. You would rarely ever see an automobile and if you did, it would most likely be a Model T. Amongst the crowded streets and sidewalks there was one young gentleman with a potential career in art and he decided that he would create a pottery company. This young man’s name was R. Guy Cowan. The R stood for Reginald, but for short, his parents would called him R. Guy. He opened his first pottery studio in Lakewood, Ohio.

My teacher at Grant Elementary in Lakewood, Ms. Bluemel, thought that Cowan Pottery would be an interesting subject for our yearly local history research project and documentary. That is why my class, with the help of the Executive Director of the Lakewood Historical Society, Mrs. Mazie Adams, is making a movie about Cowan Pottery.
All year long, my class and I interviewed people who were experts on Cowan Pottery. We interviewed a relative of a Cowan artist, authors of a book on Cowan Pottery, the current owner of the old Cowan buildings, and R. Guy Cowan’s grandson.
Mrs. Adams visited our classroom each week to help us research using books, old photos, and primary source documents that we could only touch while wearing gloves. We got to touch real Cowan Pottery and shards too.
We went on a couple of Cowan related field trips. First we went to the Western Reserve Historical Society to look up Cowan in the city directory and find locations on old maps. We also visited the Cowan Museum in the Rocky River Public Library. The curator of the museum, Mrs. Carol Jacobs, showed us around the Cowan exhibits and also showed us the world famous Jazz Bowl. The Jazz Bowl is a big, blue and black punch bowl that was originally made for Eleanor Roosevelt. Viktor Schreckengost made it while he worked for Cowan Pottery. It was his most famous Cowan Pottery creation and is popular for its design and character.
Cowan’s Lakewood studio was open until World War I when R. Guy Cowan helped with the war effort. When Cowan came back to the studio in 1917, the gas wells were dry. Therefore, in 1920, Cowan and his employees moved the company to Rocky River, Ohio. Back in Lakewood where the first Cowan Pottery opened, the potters used red clay, but when Cowan Pottery opened in Rocky River they used White English clay.
We learned that Cowan employed many talented artists including Viktor Schreckengost, Elsa Vick Shaw, Wayland Gregory, Paul Manship, and Edris Eckhardt. They produced beautiful vases, pots, bowls, and figurines. Some of the kids in my class even asked for Cowan Pottery for Christmas and their birthdays and have begun their own collections. When we are done gathering our information, we will write our script, narrate, and work together to edit the movie. With the help of our music teacher Mr. Hazlett we wrote our own music for the movie. It is a jazz song we named “Potters’ Piece.”

The Cowan Pottery Associates made us honorary junior members and gave us our own membership cards. We will show our movie at the Cowan Symposium on May 10. You can learn more about Cowan Pottery and the symposium by visiting the Rocky River Public Library web site, www.rrpl.org. Cowan Pottery remained open until 1931 when it closed due to the Depression. My class and I will always remember the story of Cowan Potter and the fun we had making a local history project about it.

Our class web site is www.lkwdpl.org/schools/elempath/discovery

Read More on Historical
Volume 4, Issue 9, Posted 11:04 AM, 04.17.2008

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UPCOMING EVENTS

September 3, 2010:
7:00 PM - 10:30 PM - "JAZZ YOU LIKE IT"

September 4, 2010:
12:00 AM - Where's My Jet Pack?

12:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Cleveland Craft Coalition's September Bazaar

6:00 PM - FALL GUYS AND FEMME FATALES: Film Noir in the Forties The Maltese Falcon (1941) Directed by John Huston Not Rated

September 7, 2010:
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Job Seeker Tuesdays in September

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM - JOB SEEKER TUESDAYS IN SEPTEMBER Sponsored by the Lakewood Family Collaborative and Cuyahoga Community College

12:00 PM - Hodad's Music New Longer Hours!

5:30 PM - 8:00 PM - Lakewood Dog Swim

7:30 PM - Lakewood City Council Meeting

September 8, 2010:
6:30 PM - 10:30 PM - 1st Annual "Singing for Survivors" Karaoke Fundraiser

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - MEET THE AUTHOR: Linda Legeza FISH TALES Cooler Full of Fish by Linda Legeza The Rainy Day House by Linda Legeza

September 9, 2010:
5:30 PM - 6:15 PM - Prenatal Water Aerobics

6:30 PM - 9:00 PM - Prostate Partners Quarterly Meeting

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - BOOKED FOR MURDER BOOK CLUB: New York City Lush Life by Richard Price

September 10, 2010:
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM - got green? Lakewood Christian Service Center event

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM - Lakewood Early Childhood PTA Open House

7:00 PM - 10:30 PM - "JAZZ YOU LIKE IT"

September 11, 2010:
7:00 AM - 1st Annual St. Joseph Parish Golf Outing and Fundraiser

11:00 AM - 5:00 PM - 23rd Annual Lakewood Community Festival

6:00 PM - THE LAKEWOOD PUBLIC CINEMA: A Day at the Races

September 12, 2010:
1:00 PM - 6:00 PM - The Lakewood Historical Society 10th Biennial “Come Home to Lakewood” House Tour

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - SUNDAY WITH THE FRIENDS: InTransit

7:00 PM - Saint Vincent DePaul Benefit Concert for St. Joseph Church’s Overnight Shelter

September 13, 2010:
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - Incontinence and Overactive Bladder: Tips to Improve Bladder Function HEALTH TALK

7:00 PM - The Curl Advantage

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - Introductory Lakewood Block Club Meeting

September 14, 2010:
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Job Seeker Free Workshops

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - CLEVELAND’S GOLDEN AGE OF PRINT

7:00 PM - CLEVELAND’S GOLDEN AGE OF PRINT: Front Page Girl

7:00 PM - Catholicism 101

7:00 PM - 9:00 PM - 10 Steps to Perfect Credit

September 15, 2010:
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM - Life After Cancer

September 16, 2010:
7:00 PM - BUSINESS BOOK TALK with Tim Zaun and Friends

September 17, 2010:
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM - Cancer Etiquette: What to say (and not to say!) when your loved one has cancer

7:00 PM - 10:30 PM - "JAZZ YOU LIKE IT"

8:00 PM - My Fair Lady

September 18, 2010:
12:00 PM - 4:00 PM - Child and Infant CPR Class

6:00 PM - FIVE STAR FILMS: Broadway Melody of 1940

8:00 PM - My Fair Lady

September 19, 2010:
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM - Red Cross Babysitting Class

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM - SUNDAY WITH THE FRIENDS: Christine Lewis

3:00 PM - My Fair Lady

September 20, 2010:
7:00 PM - Financing Your Very Small Business

September 21, 2010:
12:00 AM - 8:30 PM - KNIT & LIT BOOK CLUB: Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton

9:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Job Seeker Free Workshops

7:00 PM - PROTECTING CHILDREN: Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force

7:00 PM - KNIT & LIT BOOK CLUB

September 22, 2010:
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM - Life After Cancer

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM - LAKEWOOD HISTORICAL SOCIETY presents: Frank Lloyd Wright and the Usonian Home

7:00 PM - Listen to Lakewood (L2L)

September 24, 2010:
7:00 PM - 10:30 PM - "JAZZ YOU LIKE IT"

8:00 PM - My Fair Lady