what can be done with clay

Vasehenge. Zanesville. 2008.

Years ago, Sawyer's (later bought by GAF) made view-master stereoscopic viewers and reels. Each real had 7 pairs of color film. Some were sold in one reel, and some in 3 reel packets. The Ohio package had Zanesville's Y Bridge. That bridge is behind the vases.

When Ohio was filled with the country's greatest concentrations of certain industries, Zanesville was so in pottery. Most of southeastern Ohio was abundant in coal and clay. Bricks, pipes, pots, and all sorts of ceramics were made. People advertised their closeness with the industries. Ohio has the Crooksville Ceramics, and East Liverpool Potters.

 

There was a public art project in which tall, painted vases were scattered through the city. Here there was a circle of vases. There are sixteen left, and four empty pedestals. Some have deteriorated to the point of no return. The only maintenance has been done by hornets. A foto taken in stitched panorama makes the vases line up in a single line, a neat view.

Intact sidewalk mosaic in front of an abandoned car lot is next to the street that leads to the Y bridge. The vases sit on what must have been a part of car sales business.

St. Nicholas Catholic Church 1898, front view

The street that runs past the front is very busy, it is part of state routes. The hill street on the side is not. In a compact downtown, near the courthouse there are several century old churches of elegant design. Slightly further way is the second Catholic church, built in Romanesque style that distinguishes itself from the others. Inside are a few very tall stained glass windows.

The other church, St. Thomas Aquinas 1842, is English Gothic and now unavailable for entrance. The roof trusses are damaged.  Mass is being celebrated across the street. Decision is pending with the bishop, unfortunately that is not good news. Catholic bishops in the US have garnered too much power. They behave as unaccountable business administrators, and sole proprietors.

St. Thomas has Belgian windows made, and buried in Belgium during the First World War. It is a Dominican parish, and has some Dominican saints portrayed in glass. Of course, there is Aquinas. There is also Dominic, accompanied by a torch bearing hound. I really wanted to see that window. August 8 is St. Dominic's Day.

St. Nicholas Catholic Church, side view

tympanum St. Nicholas Catholic Church, Columbus discovers America