Janet Goldner

Lighting the Fire ||| When a mound is completed and the ground around has been swept clean of residual combustible material, a senior potter lights the fire. A handful of grass is lit and the woman runs around the circumference of the mound touching the burning torch to the dried grass. Some mounds are still being constructed as others are already burning.

Quenching ||| Steam rises from a burning hot pot that has been immersed in the berry mixture. The older woman behind is picking up a smaller pot with a pair of tongs.

Pots to Market ||| The end of the weekly cycle is the Monday market in Segou. The pots are loaded onto carts at the firing place and brought to the edge of the river where they are transferred to large canoes for transport to market. The potters are being aided by their sons. Many canoes are loaded high with pots each week.

Removing the Pots ||| The vessels are pulled from the still smoldering mound using a long wooden pole with a metal hook. Balanced on the hook, the pot is immersed in a mixture of water and berries that tempers the vessel and adds a reddish finish. The immersed pot makes a tapping noise when it touches the side of the vessel as it is turned on the hook.

Making the Mounds

Collecting Grass ||| Women collect grass for the firing in a field a few hundred yards outside the village, cutting it with a small scythe. Handfuls of grass are piled into mounds almost as tall as the woman herself and bound with a rope twisted from the cut grass. With the aid of other women, the completed bundle is then hoisted onto the potter’s head so that she can carry it back to the village.

Glazing ||| Red stone slip is applied to the dried pot before firing. The potter is applying a decorative pattern with a feather that has been cut to make a line of the desired thickness. The potters told me that the applied designs were of their own choosing and had no particular meaning. The color is applied to the large areas with a sponge.

Family Breakfast ||| One January morning, my family in Kalabougou gathered around the ceramic brazier for warmth. The older woman with her back to us is Boh,, the president of the potters and my mother in the village. Alima is giving her infant son Bagardi some medicine while others in the family look on.

Wasa’s Family ||| The woman in the pink shirt is beginning to make a pot by forming a slab over a mold. The other women are making grog. The purple plate contains peanuts for snacking. Next to the woman in yellow is a plate with glasses for making tea. Behind the woman with the blue head tie, is a clay jar covered with black plastic that contains wet clay .