The History of the New Orleans Art Pottery

George Orr was born in 1857 in Biloxi to German immigrant parents. Around 1879 Joseph Fortune Meyer invited Orr to New Orleans to learn the pottery trade. This arrangement lasted for just a few years with Meyer and Orr throwing the pots and 75 women decorating them. While Orr and Meyer would make names for themselves, these 75 women are a complete unknown. It was 75 women who were making art as a commercial enterprise running a business in the American South in the late 19th century. This was radical and we don't have their names anymore and that's quite the shame.