Cole, A. R. (Arthur Ray Cole) – North Carolina Seagrove & Rainbow Pottery

hcst — Wed, 11 May 2011 16:02:43 +0000

A. R. Cole

Arthur Ray (AR) Cole (1892 to 1974), son of Ruffin Cole and brother to Charlie (CC) Cole, worked in his father’s pottery shop in Seagrove, North Carolina, from 1915 to 1925. He left to open his own shop, Rainbow Pottery, an active commercial enterprise from 1926 to 1941. Cole established Rainbow Pottery in Steeds, North Carolina, but later moved it to Sanford on US 1, the tourist highway linking New York with Florida. He was a creative designer who perfected unusual striped, multicolored glazes and large forms; his work was the product of a vivid rustic imagination.

Kiln openings at A.R. Cole Pottery (1941 to 1974), the renamed successor to Rainbow Pottery, were typically sellouts. The classic AR Cole Pottery earthenware vessel is crystal green with a brown underglaze breaking through at various places.

In the early days of Rainbow, A.R. Cole used a non-durable ink stamp. As a consequence, most early Rainbow pieces look unmarked. Cole later changed the mark to a circular ink stamp on the base under the glaze: “RAINBOW POTTERY/HAND/MADE/SANFORD N.C.” His mark for Rainbow’s successor was “A.R. COLE POTTERY/SANFORD, N.C.” impressed in a circle on the base.

Today A.R.’s daughters Celia (born 1924) and Neolia (born 1927) continue the pottery, now named Cole Pottery. They not only stamp their wares, but also write messages on the bottom.

Reference note by p4A.com Contributing Editor Pete Prunkl.

Cole, J. B.

hcst — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:29:56 +0000

J. B. Cole

Jacon B. (JB) Cole (1869 to 1943) was the patriarch of a North Carolina pottery dynasty that continues into the 21st century.

After 20 years working for other potters in the Catawba Valley and in the Seagrove area, J.B. established his own shop in 1922. Smart, energetic and ambitious, he catered to the tourist trade by supplying hand-made mass produced art pottery in bright colors.

J.B. left back-breaking traditional methods for others. There was no glaze grinding in his shop; he ordered glazes from a catalog. He abandoned his early wood-fired groundhog kiln for one that stood upright and was fueled by gas. He was the first Seagrove area potter to use an electric belt sander to grind off bottom drips. He joked that the grinding marks were his signature. By the early 1930′s, his shop published an illustrated catalog and produced 30,000 to 50,000 hand-made pieces a year.

Most of the production at J.B. Cole Pottery was low-fired earthenware. It was characteristically light and thin-walled with thin, delicate handles.

In 1929, J.B. started Sunset Mountain Pottery, a line of wholesale pottery. Hand-made like all his wares, it was sold in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, 175 miles west of Seagrove and falsely advertised as “mountain-made.” The line was uncharacteristically heavy but with well articulated details. Sunset Mountain Pottery closed in 1935.

Marks began in the 1980′s, long after J.B. Cole’s death. Look for a stamp of “JBCole,” and “J B COLE/Pottery/STEEDS, N.C.” By then the pottery was operated by his daughter, Nell Cole Graves, her husband Philmore, and J.B.’s son Waymon. Nell Cole Graves closed her father’s shop in late 1990.

Reference note by p4A.com Contributing Editor Pete Prunkl.

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Cole, A. R. (Arthur Ray Cole) – North Carolina Seagrove & Rainbow Pottery

A. R. Cole

Cole, J. B.

J. B. Cole