When the girls were quite young, in the mid to late 1980's, we visited the Gila Pottery workshop while on a trip to Globe to visit Papa. The owner/artist, Bob McKusick, was a long time friend of Papa's. He had a degree in Ceramic Engineering and owned a clay mine, where he mined the clay that he and his wife used to hand form and decorate tiles accurately depicting desert animals and plants and Native American motifs. Bob McKusick was a one armed man, which made his work with clay all the more impressive. McKusick tiles, mosaics and murals are found in many homes and public buildings, and may be seen in a number of museums and Arizona State Parks. Their family business was located in the foothills of the Pinal Mountains from 1949 to 1996. We are fortunate to have several McKusick tiles. These are just a few of our collection. They are hanging in the Rock House.
