CATALINA LUCIE: Pottery Artist
By Jane and Dan Austin
Article is copyrighted by the authors. Please do not use without citing authors and source.
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.
Images:
All images copyright Jane and Dan Austin 2008.
[This article was also published in the September 14, 2007 Catalina Islander Newspaper and the Spring edition of the IN-ROOM Magazine for Catalina Island Hotel Rooms and is graciously shared with the Catalina Collectors web site by the authors.]
