CAMARK POTTERY

"Camark pottery is the newest wonder of the Wonder State and it is the finest product of a most modern and successful manufacturing plant which has claimed Camden as its home of less than six months, but in that short time, by the excellent qualities of its product, has advertised this city over the entire country...

This plant, the Camden Art, Tile, and Pottery Company, was established by Jack Carnes, a young business man, whose inspiration to utilize the natural resources of this section profitably, has proven a wonderful industrial advancement for Camden, as well as a great achievement in ceramic art...

The manufacture through every step from the plan of the decorative motif to the finished piece, is completed by experienced designers, talented decorators, and skilled potters which accounts in a large measure for its unusual beauty...

The pottery plant is located a short distance off the main Camden-El Dorado highway a few blocks south on Adams Street and is ultra modern in every respect and is now making a systematic production.  There are 25 persons employed in the plant under Charles J. Sebaugh, the manager, and all are directing their accomplishments toward that successful development of natural beauty."

Excerpts from The Sandyland Chronicle website reprint from the Camden News-July 30, 1927

Thus was launched what would become a Camden landmark and an indelible legend of Camden as the home of a magnificent line of art pottery which would soon have national acclaim and would endure the test of time.

Reports vary on the exact date this company was originally established, but it is generally accepted to have begun its operation in Camden in 1926 or early 1927 as this Camden news report suggests.  The earliest pieces of art pottery produced under the name of this company, which came to be known as Camark Pottery, were designed and produced in Ohio before 1927 from Arkansas clays by John Lessell , an artisan who was working closely with Carnes on plans to open a plant in Camden to produce these artwares. Before his death in 1926, Lessell had been named as art director of the company and was working with artware designs and iridescent finishes in the production of Camark art pottery. Pieces of art pottery designed by Lessel were intricately beautiful and highly desired and are some of the most valuable Camark pieces sought as collectibles today.

Over the years Camark's line of art pottery, characterized by highly varied and decorative designs, as well as unusual applications of colors and finishes, responded to a changing nation and subsequent events.  The influence of the years of the Great Depression, along with changes within the company, itself, resulted in simpler, less decorative designs of Camark pottery produced by using shaped molds and the use of more uniform or standard colors.

Nevertheless, from the  decorative, widely varied designs and finishes of the artware of the earliest artisans to the simpler Camark pottery designs of the latter years, all continue to be desired as collectibles today, so many years after the close of the company, and remain a link to a memorable era in Camden history.