Pitcher 1896 George E. Ohr George Ohr of Biloxi, Mississippi, was arguably Americas quintessential art potter. He built his own kiln, dug his clay, threw his vessels with extreme proficiency on the potters wheel to wafer thinness, altered those shapes, and then covered them with his own novel glazes. In form and decoration they are essentially Abstract Expressionist objects—almost 50 years before that movement was founded. In fact, deemed ultimately very modern in this century, they had great appeal to such modern artists as Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, who formed collections of them. Ohrs work is extraordinarily idiosyncratic and he practiced his own mantra of "no two alike," as exemplified by these works. Ohr was a colorful character, and his quirky pottery became one of the added tourist attractions on Mississippis gulf coast. Self-proclaimed the "Greatest Art Potter on Earth," he was well ahead of his time, and the vases that he deemed "worth their weight in gold" would not co