Ron Nasca, potter and owner of Mudslingers Studio, will be featuring bowls created from historic Fredonia clay with local significance dating back more than 200 years.

The search for Fredonia clay started with a conversation Nasca, the organizer of Empty Bowls, had at a birthday party with Jim Wilmoth. During that conversation, Wilmoth stated that he had some information about where some of the clay was located.

Nasca found an advertisement in the Aug. 17, 1819 Chautauqua Gazette that stated 400,000 bricks would be for sale the following month at the old brickyard on Chestnut Street in Fredonia, across the street from Hezekiah Turner’s house.

Eventually, 100,000 bricks were sold to Leverett Barker, which led to the construction of the first brick building in the town of Pomfret, the Barker home, in 1820. That building still stands as the site of the Darwin R. Barker Museum.

Ron Nasca discovered clay from the same group of bricks that were used to construct the historic Barker home, in Fredonia, in 1820.

Nasca spoke to Hanover Historian Vince Martonis, who then put him in contact with Dr. Michael Wilson, a retired geologist from SUNY Fredonia. Wilson provided Nasca with maps that showed the clay and soil distribution in Dunkirk, Fredonia, and the surrounding area.

Then, Nasca went to the Chautauqua County GIS and discovered an empty lot in the middle of the clay seam. He then wrote a letter to the landowner in May. By the end of August, Nasca was given permission to dig at the site to see if he could locate the Barker Brick Clay. Between two and three feet down, Nasca discovered clay. He took a small sample and refilled the hole.

From there, Nasca received permission for a much more substantial dig of the site. Along with Dr. Ted Lee, a microbiologist and potter, Nasca dug a much deeper hole at the site and retrieved several buckets of what he called “wild clay.” Nasca then tested the clay he retrieved for its potential to be used for pottery.

“To tame this wild clay, it first has to be dried, then pulverized, rewetted, and sieved to remove large and small rocks,” Nasca described. The “wild clay” was then added to another style of clay and aged before it could be crafted into bowls, glazed, and fired.

The unique Barker Brick Clay bowls will be among the hundreds of bowls available for purchase at the Empty Bowls fundraising event on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., at the Wheelock School gymnasium. Proceeds from Empty Bowls will be donated to combat food insecurity in the community. In total, nearly $300,000 has been raised since the event came to the community more than a decade ago.

The Barker Brick Clay bowls will be displayed at the event with a banner to indicate their significance. The event will be held less than half a mile away from where the clay was discovered.