Austin PBS Specials

[Announcer] This program was funded in part by TC Energy.

[gentle upbeat music] - I grew up in a time when it was not cool to be American Indian, and it was a derogatory state to live in.

And I grew up in the state of Texas that is my ancestral homelands.

But I was never taught that in the public school system that I was growing up on my actual ancestral homelands.

- There's a lot of things that are kept secret.

I really feel like it's important to share, you know, the information and the knowledge so that it doesn't disappear again.

So hopefully, now we can really keep this, you know, tradition alive.

- Really, is for everyone to have two buckets.

To find and dig clay here on Caddo land, and be able to build the pieces here, and teach a lot of Caddo people how to make pottery, and then pit fire the final pieces here on Caddo homeland, on a Caddo site is pretty big deal.

That's not something that's been done in hundreds and hundreds of years.

It's hard to quantify for me like what that means.

It'll probably hit me pretty hard later.

[laughs] [lighthearted music] - I hadn't thought about that, but I'm sure it is.

It had to have been a communal process, making pots, like getting the clay and processing it, and then making the pots and designing them, and using them.

I'm sure it was a very communal process and I hadn't thought about that.

But that's exactly how we're doing it.

It's very communal and social how we're doing it.

We're all working together, we dug the clay together.

We haven't kept, you know-- I dug this clay in this bucket, and I'm keeping this bucket with me each class, like it's all been combined, so we've just been working together on all of it.

[lively music] - Well, it's not an easy process, but I can see that, first of all, you've got a village of people doing it rather than one person going, and digging the clay, and hauling it around, and breaking it up, and grinding it.

And here, we're doing a little bit of that village work.

I'm not the picture of efficiency, but I'm getting it done.

[laughs] [everybody laughs] [Participant] Okay, Becky, I'm inspired now.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, I am.

[Becky laughs] I don't know that I'll be able to do it, but I'm gonna try.

[laughing] - Oh, it was in the shower.

[Chase] You want a couple more buckets?

[Becky] I did, no, I sprained my-= [Becky] I'll rotate back in if I need to.

[laughs] For a really long time, families like mine have been separated from the tribe in one way or another, and haven't been able to take part in a lot of traditional activities.

And Chase was kind enough to offer this class and allow us to learn some traditional pottery in the Caddo way.

And a lot of us are really excited about that.

And it's a chance for us to get together, and learn from each other, and figure out what everybody's doing, and connect.

[Chase] So there's all those things to consider, but I always say, "Try to start, there has to be a water source."

- I really, honestly, believe that we have been blessed by creator and our ancestors in this process because we started out with the most pristine, perfect clay that we dug from our ancestral homelands.

So it's very possible that our ancestors dug the clay in the very place that we did.

So, I feel that... I feel very blessed.

I feel empowered, I feel strong from this weight that we're carrying forward now.

[lighthearted music] - They only have two flights on a Monday or Friday.

[Becky] Got a lot of gray in that one.

- You know, it's pretty incredible that we found such a perfect clay right here at a Caddo site.

I don't think that was a coincidence.

So, I think it goes a long ways, you know, especially since we're working with the Earth itself, you know, to make these pottery pieces.

It's just like a grounding of our people to this place.

This will last a while, and I won't have to mess with it.

Hey, I've done this a few times.

- I know not everybody's mixed concrete before, but you only add as much water as you need.

So you add, you mix, and you all can get up and see this if you want to.

[concrete grinding] And it's not easy work.

You gotta get down into the cracks, and get it out of the edges.

[water trickles] The point is, you don't want it to be a sloppy, wet, nasty ball, then you might as well just add water to the whole bucket and do the wet method, right?

[clay wedging] - Yep.

Just... wedging it.

Just, I mean, this is not really wedging, this is just kind of mixing, right?

Because wedging is a lot more involved than what I'm doing here.

- It's the same motion, right?

- Yep.

[clay clacking] - Oh, it's so beautiful.

- Clay man.

Now, I'll be honest with you, this felt a lot less gritty than the stuff that I used, so, you know.

[man] No, it wouldn't-- - Because I just, I'm afraid, I just don't wanna get it too wet.

[man] The people that are doing the same.

My neighbor make pottery or something like that.

- I was raised Caddo.

My grandmother made all our Caddo regalia.

She was an excellent seamstress.

So, and though we lived out of state when I was younger, but we always came back to stay with my grandmother in the summers, so we could learn our tradition, so we could learn our ways, and that we would know our family.

That was very important.

[birds chirping] - To me, this is about connection and family.

My son is actually really interested in the traditional Caddo pottery.

So, to me, it's really neat to see the younger generation embrace old traditions and want to learn.

- My mom is, she's always been into this stuff, and helped us pretty much get into it as well.

She started with the baskets and everything, and I've kind of just got into it recently.

- Awesome.

[clay thuds] - Junior high, maybe?

- Yeah.

- Gosh.

- He wedged it good!

- He said he used to go into the class.

[Jackie] It feels so cool.

[clay thuds] [patting] - That's good.

Yeah.

[clay thuds] - We've dug the clay out of a pit over on the land.

It was very hard.

And we all participated in all, you know, dug a bit, we pulled up the buckets for each other.

It was a really collective experience.

But it shows you how hard it really was to make this pottery, and why it's so special when they find it buried in places, why it's very, very special.

I always thought it was just bowls and stuff like that until I seen the process and how hard it was.

And we've got modern things, and they didn't have anything modern.

They had to do all this by hand, so I understand the significance of the pottery better now.

- So much better.

[clay thuds] - Okay, so we have to have three bags.

We have to have one for Kay, one for... - Think I got mine too wet, Chase.

[laughs] - It's so beautiful.

I might not even make a pot outta it.

[laughs] So pretty.

[laughs] I'm just kidding.

[lighthearted music] [people chattering] - This is pretty good.

No, that's really good.

That's really good.

- Mine is outside.

- So we'll let it dry, yeah, and that's okay.

If we have to like go set 'em out in the sun, we will, you know, I mean, like I said, we have lots of time, perfect.

- So living in South Carolina, there's not many opportunities for me to learn about my culture.

So I was really excited when I saw the Caddo Mounds posts about this class on Facebook.

And so, me and my sister signed up immediately, and we're so glad that we came 'cause we're not just learning about the pottery techniques of our ancestors, we also get to hang out with other Caddos, and learn just all sorts of things about our culture.

- I didn't get that memo.

[Chase] I said it.

- I did.

- You know why?

Because everybody's talking over me.

[everybody laughs] - That's good, really, it's just about pressing it down, and pressing it in on itself.

Fold it over, squish it down.

Now, this will also dry out.

That's good.

- A little bit more.

- Yeah.

- Really.

- You have your ball.

[clay thuds] Just flatten it.

Squish it, press it down.

Now here's the thing.

Before you go crazy and make it two millimeters thin, do not get it too thin.

So, I would say, you know, four to five millimeters, or if you're in metrics in the Imperial system, I'd say, you know, like, what is that, a quarter inch, or it's thinner than a quarter inch.

Not lumpy, don't get too thin.

You're good there.

Good, perfect, all right.

The only reason I don't want you to go thin is 'cause we just set it in there.

We've pressed it to the shape a little bit.

If your clay is really wet, it's gonna stick to the bowl.

It's not gonna work, okay, so we're gonna make a coil, okay?

So this is kind of your, if you got a bigger pot, you need more clay.

If you got a littler pot, you need less clay.

It's not an exact thing.

[energetic music] But see where it's all nasty and yucky, this is where the pot starts becoming smooth, right?

[energetic music] [people chattering] - So what you do... [energetic music] Yeah.

Leave it in, and let it come out.

[energetic music] Awesome work.

You can spray it down at the base.

- I think I'd probably stick my tongue out when I'm concentrating.

My mouth is probably open.

[laughs] Little bit, yeah.

- You only need a little one.

[people chattering] [energetic music] - I do both, for sure, I like doing both, yeah.

Oh, for the seed pile.

Yeah, that's as far as I've got.

Don't soak it, just give it a good once-over.

- Okay.

- What I'm gonna do is start building the spout for this next one.

Now, what I also wanted to recommend is after I kind of go over that and do that, I want to go around and see if anyone wants to start a new pot with some encouragement.

If they're not exactly happy with their other piece-- [people chattering] [Chase] Yeah, it's like, and it's actually they're-- [everybody laughs] [Jackie] What do you think about-- [Student] He's helping my-- - Yeah, okay.

- And so, but this is still too big, right?

- No, uh-uh, not at all.

No, so this is a little too big.

Awesome, when did you make this?

- This morning.

- All right.

- Being here, working with this group of people to sit there and listen to their stories and listen to their experiences has just been like a sisterhood.

Chase telling stories of how things were formed, and the items that they're making, what they were used for.

It just is.

It's amazing.

- You know, it's good to be here, and it's good to be on our ancestral homeland, and to be welcomed here, and not treated like a stranger.

[Chase] Yeah, I was gonna go around a bunch.

- Taking the trip from Fort Worth to here, you could tell, just the way you feel inside.

You just, you know, you're home.

It just has a different feeling to it.

- You just weld that outside-down, and then you pull up on the inside.

So I could feel it, like immediately, has a lot of grit in it.

All right.

[people chattering] [people chattering] - Stick onto your pot, right?

So now you've made the wall so thick, it's gonna explode when you fire it, right?

So when you make something that's really thick, then you want make it hollow, right?

Okay, so you make this little hollow thing, now... - Chase is a great teacher.

And now, really, I am happy with my pots.

The first day, I wasn't.

I was like, "This should be hereditary.

I should be able to make this first pot and it should be perfect.

It's in my blood."

But it didn't turn out that way.

But now, after perfecting what I'm doing, it's gonna take years of perfecting it.

I am happy with the way everything turned out, and I'm going to continue.

This wasn't a one-shot deal.

This is forever lifetime of learning and teaching.

[Chase] And this whole thing is not gonna be the leg.

- So very precious.

I mean, just to be able to see one of my children being really inspired by this, it is just such a wonderment, and it's quite humbling of how amazing and intelligent our ancestors were.

And I feel like I have so much to catch up, [laughs] and to learn, and be able to share with my children, and anybody who wants to learn.

I had actually thought I was gonna make a turtle, and then I started working with a bowl, and just forgot what my intention was, and it turned into a Turkey.

And so, turkey's very significant to our people, and it reminded me of the dance.

[gentle music] [birds chirping] [people chattering] - No, right now, no.

But, so first thing we're gonna do is start the fire.

What I like to do is smoke the ground or heat up the ground.

Especially on a day like today, when it's so wet, your wood needs to be as dry as possible.

And also, it needs to be aged.

So if we cut a tree limb down, we can't burn it.

It's green, so it has a lot of water in it.

It's worse than rained-on wood.

So while I'm doing that, if there are any questions, just let me know.

[people chattering] - It has to be hollow.

You can't do solid thick.

[Jackie] How in the world did you fire that?

[laughs] - Yeah-- - It didn't.

[Jackie] I'm hoping we could talk about, you know, small versus big, but obviously, that's gonna be later.

[Chase] Oh, yeah, know a few questions.

Now, all I'm doing is just getting the fire started.

So what I do is I'll stack some.

- Yeah.

- The pine straw, and then small sticks.

And then some more pine straw.

It's like a stack.

- Even done or not.

[sticks and straws clattering] Okay.

And... [fire crackling] [wind whooshing] [people chattering] [fire crackling] - Okay.

- These are awesome.

Very cool.

- This is what you did, Chase.

- This is nice.

- Everybody-- - You all.

- Give Chase a-- [everybody cheering and applauding] - You all did this, man, this is awesome.

- Forgot my medallion, dadgummit, I forgot 'em.

- The final burn you used.

- Oh my goodness gracious.

- Wow.

- She went right there, didn't she?

[people chattering] [Kay] You're gonna do fine, babies?

You're all gonna [indistinct] [Chase] It doesn't matter.

- Okay.

[Chase] It doesn't matter, oh, yeah, yeah, the bottom shard, you don't need it, but it doesn't matter.

It'll be smothered.

- Oh, I see.

- We'll get to that.

[wind whooshing] - It's still not really all the way in there.

- I burned my finger.

- Oh, no.

- I'm such a dumb-dumb.

I touched the grill part in the oven.

- Oh no.

[people chattering] [wind whooshing] [fire crackling] - Yeah, I've definitely never fired this many pots before.

You know, I think the most that we fired at one time is maybe six or something like that.

And you know, it's a bigger fire doing that.

But like I think we had, [chuckles] I don't know, somewhere between 12 and 20 pieces, if not more.

We didn't even actually get to fire all of them.

It was definitely a challenge.

But you know what, I really feel like a lot of the pottery we did in the ancient times would've been fired this way.

It would've been communal.

You know, I doubt very seriously, it was just one person firing one or two pieces here and there.

It probably would've been like, "Oh, okay.

You know, Thursday's firing day, everybody brings their pottery," and they're firing hundreds of pieces.

So, yeah, you know, it pushed us further into what the experience was like and what it would've been like to fire pottery, and what it means bringing people together to fire pots.

Not just an individual experience, right?

It's for everyone.

Do it like this, exactly.

We have to pay attention.

It was definitely a challenge, but I think everyone learned quite a lot about, you know, the management of having so many pieces in one place.

Yep.

[Chase] No you don't, and I think it inspires you, seeing all that, to make even more pieces.

- Yeah!

[everybody cheering] Yeah, Mary made that little turtle.

[shovel scrapes] [wind whooshing] [Chase coughs] [shovel scrapes] [people chattering] [wind whooshing] - You don't get that ping sound with like, but like, that's pretty good.

Yeah, I wanted to see how this muscle shell piece was, because it's really easy to under-fire these, 'cause you're worried about 'em being over-fired.

But that's good.

- Yeah.

Yeah, sounds really good.

- Yeah, that one's nice.

I like the different-- - Yay!

[woman] Oh, look at the acorns.

- So when we had an opportunity to learn how to make something that our ancestors made in the way that our ancestors made it, in the place where they made it, and give it to the future generations of Caddos, so that they don't have to grow up like I did.

I wanna be part of leaving something behind for Caddo descendants that is right now, in modern times, saying, "We are still here.

Here's our traditions.

Learn them from somebody that looks like you, that comes from the same era that you, to reinforce that we're still here, that we're not extinct," [gentle music] [wind blowing] [woman] I saw that-- [Announcer] This program was funded in part by TC Energy.