SAUTEE-NACOOCHEE - A exhibition at the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia connects Georgia and North Carolina traditions.<br>
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"Folk art traditions migrated from North Carolina to northeast Georgia nearly 200 years ago and continue today among clay clans," said Folk Pottery Museum Director Chris Brooks, "and our new exhibition opening September 1 will show those roots and relationships to our visitors." <br>
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The exhibition is curated by Dr. John Burrison, folklorist at Georgia State University, who is also the Curator of the Museum's permanent collection and author of the definitive history of Georgia folk pottery, Brothers in Clay.<br>
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September 1 marks the first anniversary of the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia, which presents the stories and displays the achievements of pioneer artisans making once essential household items that are now valued and collected as distinctive folk art. As migrating families built homesteads in northeast Georgia, they adapted skills taught them by their North Carolina ancestors to the changing conditions and natural resources of their new surroundings.<br>
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Dr. Burrison notes that 18th century settlers, including the Craven family in the eastern piedmont region of North Carolina lived along major trading routes with access to abundant supplies of salt and were part of the large salt glaze tradition there. Craven family potters and others moving to northeast Georgia adopted the dominant local alkaline glaze using such items as wood ash, lime and finely ground clay, but retained some characteristics of North Carolina forms and details. Dr. Burrison documents that the Cravens, thought to have begun as folk potters in England, are one of the oldest still-active "clay clans."<br>
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Moravians from middle Europe arrived in central North Carolina in the mid-1750s and incorporated designs from their culture into pottery shape and decoration. Again, these settlers chose a location near trading routes in order to have access to materials not available in less traveled areas. The exhibition includes a replica of pottery of this era. <br>
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Pottery from the Catawba Valley region is featured, and cream pots from this region resemble those of Wales and Ireland. Potter Burlon Craig receives special attention as the last artisan of his generation in the 1920s-1970s to link back to alkaline glaze folk pottery traditions.<br>
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Further, Craig was influenced by and interactive with northeast Georgia potters in the Mossy Creek area, visiting the area and borrowing ideas from Lanier Meaders. Craig and Lanier Meaders have both been honored as National Heritage Fellows by the National Endowment for the Arts. Interest by collectors and historians in North Carolina and northeast Georgia folk pottery has stimulated the production of pottery in the Jugtown and Seagrove regions of North Carolina, as well as in Mossy Creek, Lula and Gillsville in northeast Georgia, bringing many more visitors to these areas.<br>
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The North Carolina pottery will be in place through the end of August, 2008. Visiting exhibitions complement the Museum's permanent collection of nearly 200 examples of the best of northeast Georgia folk pottery, as well as displays showing how folk pottery is made, dioramas of how pottery was essential to daily life, and a video in which Meaders family potters demonstrate the labor-intensive methods they use to create folk pottery.<br>
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In its first year of operation, the Folk Pottery Museum has welcomed nearly 10,000 visitors. Chris Brooks comments that many visitors have met or collected pottery from northeast Georgia folk potters and express appreciation for the manner in which the Museum preserves and presents this unique tradition of the southern <br>
Appalachians. The Museum is a program area of the Sautee Nacoochee Community Association, an organization that has been preserving the history and supporting the creative efforts of the Sautee and Nacoochee Valleys for more than 25 years.<br>
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Chris Brooks notes that the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia will be open throughout Labor Day Weekend: Saturday, 10-5; Sunday, 1-5; Monday, September 3, 10-5. The Museum is located at 283 Georgia Highway 255 in Sautee-Nacoochee, four miles southeast of Alpine Helen. Operating hours are Monday-Saturday, 10-5 and Sunday 1-5; admission is $4 for adults, $2 for seniors and children. Special activities will be offered during the anniversary weekend, September 1-3. For more information, telephone (706) 878-3300 or visit the Museum web site: www.folkpotterymuseum.com.
