Art as Freedom

Hill, Laban Carrick. 2010. DAVE THE POTTER: ARTIST, POET, SLAVE. Ill. By Bryan Collier. New York: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0316107310

This picture book is a stunningly illustrated biography of an artist named Dave who lived as a slave in South Carolina in the early to middle nineteenth century. The book has been included in a wide range of reading lists, best books, and it won the Coretta Scott King Book Award for Illustrations in 2011. Kirkus Reviews called it a “visually stunning homage to an important African-American artist,” though the reviewer noted a “questionable omission of facts about Dave's emancipation” (Kirkus 2010). This was something I didn’t know about until this review, and it seems like a big gap that could have been easily filled.

The book follows Dave through the process of making a pot. He scoops the dirt, forms the clay, throws it on the wheel, and spins a pot. At the end of the story, Dave inscribes a short poem on the still-wet clay. After the story, there is a brief section about the life of the artist (with the omission that he was ever emancipated, as noted by Kirkus) that includes more poetry inscriptions and a photo of some actual pots that David created.

The illustrations in this book are simply stunning. The muted colors throughout remind us that David is not free from the cloud of slavery that always hangs over him. The pictures brilliantly illustrate the spiritual journey that David experiences in the creation of his artwork. He is encompassed by it, and it figuratively is large enough to embrace him, but it remains just out of reach: "If he climbed into the jar/ and curled into a ball,/ he would have been embraced.” As the pot is nearing its final form on the wheel, the pages unfold to reveal a continuous narrative of formation longer than the book itself. The artist then finishes his creation by inscribing a poem. His spiritual journey is complete, a bright spot in an otherwise bleak condition.

I found that my older daughter liked the story of Dave making the pot better, and my younger daughter liked the nonfiction part at the end that gave more factual information. The change between the two sections of the book seemed abrupt, and I wonder if it could have been blended better for a more smooth transition. All in all, I really liked this book. It’s a very poetic way to present the biography of an incredible artist.

Kirkus. 2010. Kirkus Reviews 78(16). August 15. Children’s Literature Comprehensive Database, Texas Woman’s University. http://ezproxy.twu.edu:4529/index.php/bookdetail/index?page=1&pos=0&isbn=9780316107310