Artist Marks and Monograms of the Owens Pottery Company

Artists and decorators were employed by the Owens Pottery throughout their production, focused primarily on just a few lines. The most common are the varieties of Utopian, which were produced throughout the entire existence of the pottery. Utopian products are often found with artist signatures, as are Alpine, Art Vellum, and Mission.

The practice of having artists and decorators sign their work varied substantially among the various ceramics producers at the turn of the century. Some used it merely as a way to keep track of how many pieces an artist would be paid for, and those marks and cyphers were usually incised on the base. Base marks were usually stylized initials rather than signatures, although those do occasionally appear.

Signatures on the side generally were a point of pride for the artist who created a particularly nice design. Whereas junior artists were restricted to small designs on small pieces, only a handful of artists could be trusted with the larger pieces. These known artists might be requested by customers for commissions, so signing their full signatures was critical for that recognition.

Utopian can be found with both incised and ink base signatures, as well as slip-painted signatures on the side of larger pieces. When Lotus is signed it is usually in slip on the side. Often the initials can be found near the bottom of the artwork, almost as a part of it so that sometimes it takes a bit of searching to locate it.