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March Issue 2004
Southern Pottery in Columbia, SC, Offers Exhibit on Southern Face Jugs
by Virginia Scotchie
Southern Pottery Workcenter & Gallery in Columbia, SC, is offering the exhibition, Southern Face Jugs: Past and Present, through Apr. 8, 2004. The exhibit of work by 20 potters consists of over 100 pieces of work ranging from historical pieces by Burlon Craig and Lanier Meaders to recent work by Peter Lenzo and Otis Norris.
Artists with works included in the exhibit are: Lanier Meaders, Burlon Craig, Charlie Brown, Louis Brown, E.J. Brown, Guy Daughterty, Billy Henson, Otis Norris, Billy Ray Hussey, Steve Abee, Albert Hodge, Grace Nell Hewell, Chester Hewell, Marvin Bailey, Marie Rodgers, Peter Lenzo, Andy Naissee, Ben Truesdale, Justin Guy, and Jeremy Davis.
The making of southern face jugs is a ceramic tradition that has been dated back to the 1840's. This pottery tradition continues to be of significant interest for many contemporary potters living in the South. The exhibition entitled Southern Face Jugs: Past and Present, will highlight the work of twenty potters who make face jugs.
Sometimes known as "ugly or grotesque jugs" face jugs were thought to have begun in Edgefield county South Carolina by African slaves who worked on the plantations as potters. These potters would work on the face jugs after the work of making functional pottery such as churns and storage jars was finished for the day. Many historians believe there may have been a spiritual connection to the face jug for these potters.
Many of the early pieces were small in scale, from 4 to 4 and a half inches. They were thrown on the wheel in the harvest jug style where there is an overhead strap handle on the body of the pot off set with one or more spouts. Teeth and eyes were made from white kaolin clay to contrast the darker color of the stoneware clay. These early pieces were glazed with alkaline glazes and fired in large wood burning kilns along with the potters functional ware.
In the early part of the 19th century the form was adopted by white potters. This can be attributed to the downturn in profit for the white potters from the everyday items such as churns and storage jars. This was probably due to the major influx of cheaper mass produced ware being imported from the northern factories. To avoid going out of business the potters started making unique items such as miniatures and face jugs. These items helped to keep the potters from closing down since they appealed to the tourist trade.
There has been a continuum in the interest of face jugs throughout the 20th century primarily centered around two prominent potters, Burlon Craig and Lanier Meaders. However it wasn't until the 1970's when there was an upscale interest in American Folk lore by university academics that the work of Craig and Meaders were exposed to a larger American audience. The popularity of these two potters surged and the face jug as an art form along with interest in its history experienced a renaissance.
Lanier Meaders was born in Mossy Creek, GA, in 1917. His grandfather, John M. Meaders had founded the family's pottery business which Lanier worked in until his death in 1998. His work was first exposed to a wider audience in 1967 at the Smithsonian Institution's Festival of American Folklife. He brought 250 face jugs to Washington, DC, selling them for $12.50 each. They all sold and if you were lucky enough to have purchased one, today they are worth over $4,000. Lanier's ash glaze face jugs are recognized as some of the most collectable pieces of southern pottery. In 1983, he received a National Heritage Fellowship.
Marie Rogers was born in Georgia in 1922 and she continues to this day to create her works in clay including face jugs and sculptural figures. She is one of the few female folk potters working today. It wasn't until her husbands death in 1962 that Rogers began her work in ceramics and it wasn't until the mid 1970's that she purchased her first kiln.
Burlon Craig was born in 1914 in Hickory, NC. In many ways he is the patriarch of the face jug tradition and one of the best known of the Catawba Valley potters. He began working in clay when he was 14. Craig joined the Navy in 1942 and when he returned be bought a small farm near, Vale, NC, and began to produce traditional pottery using 19th century techniques. His work features his distinctive alkaline glazes and he worked up until his death in 2002.
The Brown Pottery is located in Arden, NC, and has served as the studio for over eight generations of potters. Four generations of potters from the Brown family will be featured in this exhibition going back to 1923. A very rare E.J. Brown signed "Devil Jug" from the late 1950's will be a highlight of the historical face jugs in the exhibition.
Peter Lenzo and Andy Naissee are contemporary potters who have begun making face jugs after many years of professional work in ceramic sculpture. Naissee heads the ceramics program at the University of Georgia in Athens and his work is represented in many private and public collections. Lenzo has a master of art from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. He has immersed his artistic talents into the making of face jugs, sculptural figures and pottery. His work is featured in many collections including the Smithsonian Museum and the Mint Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte, NC.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings or contact the gallery at 803/251-3001 or e-mail at (lenzo@southernpottery.org).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2004 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.