From Mud to Jug admirably succeeds in what it sets out to do: provide an introduction to Georgia folk pottery for the non-specialist. John Burrison envisioned the book as both companion and sequel to his seminal 1983 work Brothers in Clay by bringing us into the twenty-first century, though it appears to operate equally well as an exhibit catalog for the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia, echoing the structure of the exhibit as well as including a brief history of how the museum was developed.
The book walks the reader through northeast Georgia folk pottery as much with stunning visuals as with text, with a layout that complements the hundreds of beautiful, full-color photos of pots and potters. As the book is geared toward the non-specialist coming to folk pottery for the first time, Burrison introduces folk pottery, outlines the major pottery centers in northeast Georgia, moves through a brief history of pottery in the area, and then dives into the people and processes that have created the living tradition that exists today. The text skips along easily, pulling together the hard-earned conclusions that Burrison has made over the course of his four decades studying folk pottery in northern Georgia.
Where Brothers in Clay works with the reader to draw these conclusions from a wealth of data, From Mud to Jug cuts to the chase, providing a compelling and efficient survey with a hopeful look to the newest generation of potters. The reader should not be fooled by the clean and seemingly light touch Burrison takes as he endeavors to cover the entirety of northeast Georgia folk pottery in such a slim and photo-heavy book. Every inch packs glimpses of the richness of the tradition, including gems tucked away in photo credits, such as the Meaders emic term “Shanghai glaze” that hints at a memory of past Asian influences (21), or the meaning of the punctuated dots at the base of the spout to indicate the number of gallons the piece holds (22), or, in the text proper, the origin of the Hewells’ use of blue glass in their pottery from a visit with Burlon Craig in North Carolina where the use of glass was deep and widespread (86).
Figures and graphics similarly help tell the story, with maps and family trees that reveal the relationships and interconnections of potters intermarrying, borrowing, and learning from one another. Marriage, apprenticeships, friendships, and migration link virtually all of the major potters in northeast Georgia, as well as potters in North Carolina—such as the Cravens and Burlon Craig—and in South Carolina—namely through Charles H. Ferguson. It is this focus on the individual in tradition that provides a structural as well as theoretical backbone for the book.
Not surprisingly, therefore, one of the great delights of the book is the section of interviews with contemporary potters. While the main text of the book is virtually lacking the actual voices of the potters, this final chapter is symphonic, with interviews providing overlapping and interwoven insights into what it means to be a working potter, both in the past and today. Process dominates the thoughts and words of the potters, as do the finer points of technique and technology. Running throughout the interviews, even among those who find making pottery therapeutic, is just how hard the work is. Making a living throwing pots is not for the weak willed, weak armed, or financially anxious. Henry Hewell is not alone in describing the freezing mornings, chapped hands, numbing monotony, and brute force required to turn pots, and then to turn those pots into a living.
The ability to make ends meet, or even fully support oneself making pottery, has always been an important part of the folk pottery tradition in the U.S. Southeast, a message that comes through clearly in Burrison’s book. When functional pottery bottomed out with the availability of glass and then plastic containers, not to mention refrigeration, commercial dairies, and Prohibition, potters found new markets with art collectors who learned of these traditions through the work of folklorists such as Ralph Rinzler who brought southern folk pottery to national prominence during the 1967 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, and folklorists who followed quickly behind, including Nancy Sweezy throughout the South, Terry Zug in North Carolina, Cinda K. Baldwin in South Carolina, Joey Brackner in Alabama, and of course John Burrison in Georgia.
Articulation of the impact of folklorists in helping support folk pottery in Georgia is not self-congratulatory backslapping. As Henry Glassie notes in his foreword, the story of Georgia folk pottery is one shaped dramatically by the folklorists who have studied it. Burrison is too humble to fully depict his role in the economic success of the Hewells and Meaders, but they are not. Clete Meaders III describes the moment when he quit the construction business and began throwing pots: “Well, this was ’91, and, you know, Brothers in Clay was ‘hot’; people were talking about it. So I started making pieces and carrying them to Cleveland to fire in Dad’s kiln.” He has successfully supported himself with his pottery business ever since.
Though the book is written primarily for a general audience, there are a number of topics, ideas, and themes that folklorists may nonetheless wish were addressed in more depth. In the interview section alone, questions of shifting gender roles, memorialization of the Confederacy, storytelling traditions, expressions of religion and faith, the competitive spirit among “clay clans,” the entrance into a family business operating under the glare of the public spotlight, and emic definitions of “folk” pottery and “artist” all emerge as fertile areas for analysis. While face jugs have garnered the lion’s share of ink in southern folk pottery scholarship, figurative and decorative traditions where women have played crucial roles, such as with the iconic grapes, snakes, and roosters of the Georgia tradition, have received far less.
While those familiar with Brothers in Clay will likely find few surprises here, readers new to Georgia folk pottery will find a visually appealing and intellectually engaging survey of a tradition that appears as vibrant as ever.
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[Review length: 1013 words • Review posted on January 28, 2015]