history

When I left college in 1982, I found a job in Iowa at a
production pottery, Earthworks of Alexander IA, run by
Deborah Vestweber. I was 2 credits short of my Art B.A. All I
really wanted to do was work with clay, so I signed up for a
year as a hand builder/studio helper
Paul Morris was an itinerant potter working part time at
Earthworks. Having discovered clay in High School, he went
on to work in production potteries as a thrower, so by that
time he was a skilled craftsman with 6 years experience on
the wheel.
We were married in 1982, and ventured on our own that
spring to produce our own work.
In 1983 we moved to the property near Ogilvie in east
central Minnesota. We built an Olson fast-fire wood kiln, and
lived in a camper. We sold our work at art festivals around
the state, and supplemented our income by working in other
potteries.
Using salt in a firing is hard on the kiln, so eventually we built
a larger cantenary arch kiln and switched to LP gas for firing
when the old woody died. Work was steady through the
eighties, and Morris Pottery grew into a studio we built as an
addition to the mobile home. All of the materials used to
build our kilns were scrounged from used brick piles. We
travelled many miles around the state hauling bricks back.
   1990 brought big changes with the birth of our daughter.
My pottery responsibilities ended when I took over the
responsibilities of motherhood. Paul was working on a big
order at another pottery where he met Phil Echert. They
decided to collaborate, firing all of the work in our salt kiln.
Rockhard Stoneware Company was born in 1991.   We
were now our own production pottery. Eventually a much
larger salt kiln was built Several workers joined us over the
years, helping with making the pots, firing, and selling the
work around the country. I worked part time in the studios,
here in Ogilvie, and at Phil's in Champlin MN. My job was
slip trailing the pottery with various designs most numerous
being Horses. Paul decorated some of his own pieces, but I
decorated 90% of the work in those years. The Rock hard
pottery was sold extensively in the eastern US.   In the busiest
year we did 32 shows. On the road they met gallery
owners that took on our work, and in the hey day we were in
22 galleries. After 13 years of this very hectic pace, We
dissolved the partnership known as Rockhard Stoneware.
We had many reasons for this move, but mainly we no
longer wanted to produce pottery in huge quantities
necessary for an operation this size, wanting more input in
quality control. For me personally I felt stifled creatively.
Paul spent more time on the road than he did in the shop.
Yes we were getting a steady income for the first time in our
working lives, but something was missing.     For us it was like
jumping off a cliff, but not into the unknown, we were still
working with clay and there was the desire to create high
quality work made only by us, so we resurrected Morris
Pottery.
The old RH kiln was fired three more times before it became
unsafe due to salt corrosion. It had been fired over 200
times. Paul dismantled it early spring of 2006, and rebuilt it
into a wood fired model.
We have opened up our studio for Pottery Classes, and
continue to show our work at a few local Art shows. The style
has evolved somewhat, but the big difference is it is all
Morris all of the time. We no longer produce pieces by the
hundreds, and if a pot is sub-standard it doesn't reach the
market.
  2007 marks the 25th Anniversary of Morris Pottery, our
marriage and our partnership in clay.     Denise S- Morris