“It started in the living room, one kiln on the porch. That was around 1980 I think. I remember Mongee calling me to ask if I would come take the carpet out of the living room. My response was, “Does Dad know about this?””
Mongee, as we called my grandmother, or Joyce Judd, as the rest of the world did, was the creator and owner of Gingersnap Pottery. She started her business around 1980, and created and sold pottery for around ten years until her hands could no longer work at the wheel.
This page exists to tell her story, and to tell our story as we work to hunt down and reclaim her work and bring it home. She spent years creating beautiful art to be cherished and used by others, but stopped making pottery while her grandkids were young enough that very little was set aside for us to have as adults. Our parents have kept a vigilant eye in thrift stores in the area they live in for years, hoping for lucky finds of her work in the part of New York that was her base of operations. As pieces return into circulation in the world through resale and auction websites, we have taken the hunt online.
Follow us here to learn more about Mongee, her work, and our ongoing quest.
The Gingersnap Pottery Reclamation Project 