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Niloak Pottery

© Barbara Bell

Every once in a while you may come across a strange-looking pottery vase, covered in swirls in the earthy tones of cream, beige, earth brown, and dusty blue. The colors aren't created by a glaze or painting, but seem to be part of the material itself. In fact, this is true. No two of these smallish vases look alike, for the process is entirely random. Characterized by an upwardly clockwise-spiraling pattern, soft colors and blurred lines, each piece is unique -- in fact at one point, the manufacturer offered a reward of $1,000 to anyone who could find two pieces with identical swirl patterns.

The name of this intriguing pattern is Missionware, but it is more commonly called by the manufacturer's name, Niloak. The name Niloak itself has an interesting origin, for it is "kaolin" spelled backwards. Kaolin is the type of clay found in the region of central Arkansas near the town of Benton, where the pottery company was located. Kaolin is a very white clay, and large deposits of it are found in Asia where porcelain manufacturing first began.

The Niloak company's origins were in the mid-1860's beginning as a small family-run business making salt-glazed earthenware, for the needs of the local area. The founder, John Hyten, passed the business on to his three sons, Paul, Charles and Lee. By 1906, Charles was the sole member left with the pottery. He then renamed it the Eagle Pottery Company. The Eagle Pottery Company continued on in the tradition of producing crocks, butter churns, and jugs.

Around 1910, Charles became interested in a new process of swirl design in the clay. Arthur Dovey, a potter formerly with Rookwood Pottery, had crafted a technique to allow multi-color swirling in the making of his works. Together, Hyten and Dovey began introducing this attractive pottery in the local area, where it soon became popular with tourists stopping in Benton on their way from Little Rock to the Hot Springs health resort. By 1911, the firm had perfected its marbleized pottery in which the cream and brown tones of both natural and artificially colored clays were formed by random swirling. They called it "Missionware" in keeping with the Arts and Crafts movement of the day.

Most of the pieces have an interior glaze. Some of the first-year examples had an exterior glaze, as well. This was found to darken the finished product, obscuring the swirl patterns, so was discontinued, making these extremely rare. Later pieces have an unglazed, satin-like exterior. Most have a mark incised into the base of the piece, but a few carried paper labels.

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