New Exhibition of Pre-1900s Alabama Folk Pottery; 8th Annual Pottery Show to Be Held March 16
Burrow Museum Announces New Exhibition of Pre-1900s Alabama Folk Pottery; 8th Annual Pottery Show to Be Held March 16
Hanceville, Ala. – The Evelyn Burrow Museum at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville is hosting “Pre-1900’s Alabama Folk Pottery” through May 2013.
This exhibition, one of the largest known exhibitions of 19th century Alabama pottery in recent history, features the pottery of Shelby, Autauga, Elmore, Blount, Perry, Tuscaloosa, Randolph, DeKalb and Cleburne counties, areas which have produced some of the most highly sought-after pottery from the state.
Objects on display are from a collection owned by Danny Maltbie, Joe Forbes and Ron Countryman, who helped the museum organize the exhibition.
“The extensive collections and knowledge these three men have about Alabama pottery is extraordinary,” said Donny Wilson, Director of the Burrow Museum. “We hope their inspired devotion to preserving this artistic heritage of Alabama comes through in the exhibition.”
“Pre-1900’s Alabama Folk Pottery” went on display in the museum’s main gallery on March 1 and will remain in place for three months.
Visitors will find works of art among many carefully handcrafted items that were used as household implements for food storage and preparation.
“This pottery is all from the mid-19th through the late 19th century, from a collection of nine counties that were very important to the pottery trade of that day,” said Wilson. “The high-quality clays found in these areas attracted numerous pottery-making families who moved to Alabama from South Carolina and Georgia to continue their craft,” he said.
In shedding light on an important chapter of pottery making in Alabama history, the exhibition draws attention to the achievements of the area’s the potters and their families.
Celebrated in the exhibition are the works of these artists:
Jasper Newton Roy of Autauga County
William Jesse Skinner, J.M. Vick and F. M. Warrick all of Blount County
J.A. Rogers of Cleburne County
Thomas Jefferson Henry, Archibald McPherson and Elijah Edmond McPherson of DeKalb County
Zackariah Taylor Ussery, John Barnes and John Frederick Lehman of Randolph County
Charles King Oliver and Daniel C. Cribbs of Tuscaloosa County
Benjamin Williams, Jeremiah Franklin Morton and James Williams of Perry County
Jonathan Payton of Shelby County
SPECIAL EVENT:
The 8th Annual Pottery Show will take place on Saturday, March 16, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Burrow Center. This event, previously held in Boaz, is being held at Wallace State this year in conjunction with The Burrow Museum’s pottery exhibition.
Joey Brackner, Executive Director of the Alabama Center for Traditional Culture and author of “Alabama Folk Pottery,” is expected to give a lecture in the Burrow Center Recital Hall at 12:30 p.m. on March 16. The Wallace State Singers will provide entertainment.
The Pottery Show is a day for collectors from across the region to put their collected works on display for each other and for the public.
Pots may be sold or traded during the day, but mostly it is a chance for collectors to get together, talk about pottery, solve mysteries of obscure markings or identify unique styles, and admire each other’s collections. Everyone is welcome to bring pottery they own for identification.
According to Maltbie, a perennial organizer of the Pottery Show, past events have attracted as many as 600 people – collectors, artists, and those who are just interested in learning more about pottery.
The March 16 Pottery Show is free for anyone to attend.
Admission The Ev
elyn Burrow Museum’s “Pre-1900’s Folk Pottery” exhibition is also free.
For more information about the Pottery Show, visit sandmountainpottery.com or call 256.878.2610.
For more information about the Burrow Museum, call 256.352.8457 or visit www.burrowmuseum.org. Regular hours of operation for the Burrow Museum are Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.