The Clay and the Craft: The Birth of Anna Pottery In the fertile landscape of late 19th-century Illinois, a unique artistic legacy began to take shape through the hands of Cornwall Kirkpatrick and his brother, W. Wallace Kirkpatrick. Driven by the rich, abundant clay deposits found near Anna, the brothers established what would become known as Anna Pottery during the late 1850s. Their journey was far more than a mere entrepreneurial venture; it was an immersion into the heart of the burgeoning American Arts and Crafts movement. Influenced by the profound ethos of figures like William Morris,…