Photo: Contributed
Axel Ebring with some of his creations in 1953.
The historical record works in a mysterious way.
Around 1975, a newspaper dated April 3, 1943 was found under the floorboards of a house in North Vancouver. Forty-seven years later, in 2022, the paper makes its way to the Vernon Museum and Archives.
The North Van house was 80 years old in the 1970s when it was purchased by Jim Huffman, who now lives in Vernon. While renovating one of the bedrooms, Jim found two or three full Vancouver Sun newspapers from the 1940s hidden under the old linoleum.
As somewhat of a self-proclaimed history freak and hoarder, he tucked them away in a safe place before turning them over to a museum employee earlier this year.
What’s interesting about one of these outdated Vancouver papers (except for the fantastic Prince Valiant cartoons) is that it includes an article about one of Vernon’s authors, Axel Ebring.
Long before the age of the internet, this famous local potter managed to make a name for himself across the province.
Axel was born in Kalmar, Sweden, in 1874. At the age of 12, he immigrated to Canada. He worked as a general laborer for many years before adopting his father’s trade and building his first production furnace at Notch Hill, near Salmon Arm, in the 1920s.
He discovered another clay deposit about 10 years later in Vernon and moved his operations here.
As recounted in the Vancouver Sun article, Axel’s furnace was about 20 feet square and eight feet high, with walls that were two feet thick.
After shaping his creations, Axel decorates them with naturally produced dyes made from roots and berries. The article also includes an interesting discussion of the process Axel would have taken to break up pieces of clear quartz to form a glaze. After being decorated and glazed, the pieces were placed in large, heat-resistant clays called “segaris,” which were then stacked on top of each other in the kiln.
The parts were baked twice for 60 hours, with a cooling period in between, then they were ready for sale.
Axel remained in Vernon until 1954 when he died. His legacy was commemorated in the name of Pottery Road, near where his kiln and shop were located.
Many of his creations are housed in both the Vernon Museum and the RJ Haney Heritage Village & Museum, as well as in private collections.
Gwynne Evans is the Research and Communications Coordinator at the Vernon Museum and Archives.
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