Bernard Palissy

Hello, I am Bernard Palissy. A long time ago, around the year 1510, I was born. I loved to explore the outdoors. In the gardens and forests, I would look at all the little creatures. I loved seeing the lizards, snakes, and snails crawling around. I was a potter, which means I made things like plates and bowls from squishy clay. It was fun to shape the clay with my hands and turn it into something new and useful.

One day, I saw a beautiful cup. It was white and so very shiny. I wanted to learn how to make my own pottery just as colorful and glossy. But how to do it was a secret. It was a very hard secret to figure out. I tried and tried for many, many years to learn how to make my clay creations shine. I worked so hard to get the colors just right. After all that time, I finally discovered the secret. I learned how to make special, shiny glazes for my pottery. I was so happy that I never gave up.

After I learned the secret, I made a special kind of art. I called it ‘rustic ware.’ I would go into my garden and find real leaves, snakes, and lizards. I used them to make molds for my pottery. When I made my plates and platters, it looked like real animals were crawling on them. It was a new and exciting kind of art that showed how much I loved nature. Even the queen of France loved my unique creations and thought they were very special.

I lived to be about 80 years old. My life was full of art and nature. People today can still see my amazing pottery in museums all around the world. They remember me for my beautiful art that celebrated nature and for never, ever giving up on my big idea.