New Galilee, Pennsylvania
Clay was an abundant resource in Beaver county. According to the 1955 circular of the Pennsylvania Geological Survey, In 1955 Beaver County produced 13.7% of Pennsylvania's total clay output. There were 13 companies that mined clay in Beaver county at that time. Two of these companies, The Negley Fire Clay Co. and Ralph A. Veon, Inc. mined fire clay of the plastic variety from open pits and marketed the output for use in manufacturing fire brick and block, foundries, and heavy clay products. In addition, Ralph A. Veon, Inc., mined and sold fire clay of the burley variety. In 1955, New Castle Refractories mined stoneware clay from an underground mine near New Galilee for use locally in manufacturing pouring channels
Stan Bitters
In his book "Environmental Ceramics", Bitters says that “Clay assumes powerful form in sculpture. Because of its responsive nature and its receptivity to impressions, clay is open to tremendous variety of sculptural approaches, and can be worked additively and subtractively with equal ease. Its visual mass gives it an earthy, weighty character in contrast to the liquid nature of glass or the linear character of welded steel in which a massive piece may appear to be much lighter than it is. The immediacy with which clay can be worked gives the sculpture great energy. Clay accepts and emits emotional power” (Bitters 1976, p. 77).