CATALINA LUCIE: Pottery Artist
***By Jane and Dan Austin
www.catalinacollectors.org
***"If you know even a little
about the pottery made on Catalina Island,
you have probably heard something about Lucie Watkins, whose creative
works were often signed “Catalina Lucie” during the time she was
employed on the Island. As the novelty designer for Catalina Clay
Products, Lucie was responsible for making, among other things, fancy
flowered items such as sugars & creamers, wall pockets, baskets and
candle holders.
We fell in love with the
pottery and tile of Catalina Island as kids
and began collecting it a decade ago. We own a number of Lucie’s pieces
and they are a very prized part of our collection. We offer here a bit
about this remarkable woman who created such beautiful and wondrous
pottery pieces.
Lucie Marie Robert was born in
Choisy-le-roy, France, on September 19,
1898. You will find Lucie pictured in the group of employees featured
on page 168 of Carole Coates’ book, Catalina Pottery and Tile. She is
the pretty woman with curly hair in the front row, 3rd from the right,
with her arms crossed.
Lucie came from a long line of
French potters and learned her craft at
the Faencerie Pottery Factory. She had left the pottery factory to work
as a courier for Galleries Lafayette when she met Howard Watkins, a GI
in France during WW1. They were married in 1918, and he brought
her home as a war bride to his parents’ place in North Platte,
Nebraska. To learn English, she attended the local grade school,
finishing grades 1-6 in 6 months. Lucie’s only child, Robert
(Bob) Watkins was born in 1920. Due to cultural differences, Lucie and
Howard went their separate ways in 1929.
From 1929 to late in 1931,
Lucie took young Bob back to France. When
they returned to the U.S., the Watkins family had moved to Los Angeles
and Lucie opted to relocate nearby. She was fortunate enough to be
hired by the Catalina Island Company in 1932, which enabled Bob to
spend his summers in Catalina with her and the rest of the year with
his dad in Los Angeles.
While working for the Island
Company, Lucie refined and developed many
of what are now considered to be her signature pieces. She loved
flowers and fashioned them quickly, but with exquisite skill and grace.
She also worked as a spokesperson for the Island Company, putting on
demonstrations as “The French Flower Girl.”
When Catalina Clay Products was
sold in 1937, Lucie followed her work
to Gladding McBean, where she decorated and designed pottery. Although
she continued to work for Gladding McBean off and on for many years,
she also opened her “Lucie Handmade Pottery” shop in 1939, at 3153 Los
Feliz Blvd in Los Angeles. She sold the pottery she made in her shop to
Gladding McBean to sell in their own Franciscan retail shops and also
sold to such notable retailers as Woodward and Lothrop in Washington D.
C., Marshal Field & Company in Chicago, and Stern Brothers of New
York
At a time when women did not
typically work outside the home, much less
own their own businesses, Lucie Watkins was a well-respected leader in
the field of pottery. Magazine articles about Lucie and her marvelous
works appeared in The Western Woman, Vol. 12 April, May, June 1946, and
The Ceramic Industry in February 1950.
Lucie loved Catalina and returned to open a small pottery shop
from
1950 to 1952. In late 1960, Lucie returned to France for a few years to
teach at the same school where she had learned the art of pottery
making. After returning to the U.S., she continued teaching at the
Hollywood Assistance League and later at the YMCA.
Lucie eventually retired from pottery making and traded her
kiln for
paint brushes, painting flower pictures, missions, and European scenes
with brick buildings and flowers. In 1976, California Senator Paul
Carpenter saw her paintings and was so impressed that he told ABC
Channel 7 in Los Angeles. Joanne Ishimine did a little piece for the
afternoon news about Lucie’s paintings.
Lucie passed away on May 21, 1995, without ever knowing how
much her
pottery would come to be appreciated, sought after and collected.
Lucie’s daughter-in-law, Betty Watkins, told us Lucie would have been
thrilled to know of all the interest that has developed in her work
We spent a number of great hours reminiscing with the Watkins
family
while we viewed and photographed their family treasures and photos.
They have been most gracious and generous, and we would like to offer
our thanks to Betty and Bob, and to their son, Bob, for sharing Lucie’s
remarkable story with collectors."