In most villages of West Africa it is traditional for women to head the art of pottery-making, while the men hunt. African mothers teach the hand-building method to their daughters, and so on.When Africans were brought to the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica, they brought their ideas and culture. Consequently, this technique known as African coiling was practiced and left there by our ancestors. Today the African coiling technique is still being practiced by many potters and ceramic artists in Jamaica.

The technique involves the making of clay sausages just big enough to fit comfortably in the palm. Each clay sausage is then held between the palm and the forefinger. With a circular motion the clay is pressed into the other palm, rapidly creating the base of the vessel. The same pattern is repeated to build the body of the vessel. As the form gets higher, the coils are then sealed with the fingers or wooden tools

. African coiled piece. Artist: Juliet

Artist Focus

Leonia P. McKoy was born 1979 in Kingston Jamaica. She has been artistic from as early as she can remember. For her, anything creative was worth doing. It was not surprising then that after finishing high school , she enrolled at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. It was there that she had her first encounter with clay. “It was love at first touch”. She found that clay enabled her to be creative in endless ways.

Leonia graduated with honors from college with a diploma in ceramics, having received the most coveted award: the Dean’s award for the Most Outstanding Student of the School of Visual Arts. She is intrigued by rhythm and movement, and highly inspired by nature, especially the waves of the sea , and the unfolding of a leaf or flower. Her wit is hard to miss, which is visible in the use of lines and shapes in her forms. Leonia’s pieces are initially made on the potter’s wheel and then altered. Her three consecutive entries in the Jamaica cultural development commission {JCDC} fine arts competition{1999-2001] has yielded her two bronze medals and one gold. She has taken part in various group exhibitions in a number of galleries in Kingston, Jamaica. Some of these include the National Gallery of Jamaica, Mutual Life Gallery, Revolution Gallery and Contemporary Art Center.

Leonia had her first solo exhibition at the revolution gallery in 2006. She currently works from her studio in coopers hill St. Andrew, Jamaica, West Indies. She makes exquisite functional pieces such as bowls , bottles, vases and unusual large sculptural forms.