| Abstract |
According to exhibit curator Stephen C. Compton, "A Handed Down Art: The Brown Family Potters" is a tribute to this family's long, unbroken, multi-generational chain of potters whose knowledge about making pottery has been passed down from family member to family member for about two centuries, and whose adaptive and innovative approach to the trade ensured its durability." After many years working as potters in nearly every Southern state, brothers Davis and Javan Brown opened their own Brown Brothers' Pottery in Arden, N.C., near Asheville, in 1925. Nearly a century later, Charles Brown keeps the family tradition going in his Brown's Pottery shop where his grandfather Davis Brown, and his father, Louis Brown, last turned wares. Nearby, Javan Brown's granddaughter, Cherry Brown Corn, keeps her wheel turning after many years working side-by-side with her parents, Evan and Mercedes Brown, at Evan's Pottery. Following many years as a military and commercial airline pilot, James E. Brown Jr., another Davis Brown grandson, recently opened his own Brown's Pottery shop near Hiddenite, N.C. In Alabama, Jerry Brown runs a traditional pottery shop where clay is ground up in a mule-powered pug mill. Nearly two hundred objects gleaned from family and private collections will be displayed in the exhibit representing the work of numerous Brown family members. Examples include utilitarian, decorative art, and dinner wares. The Browns are well known for their face jugs, including one folk art masterpiece in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and many of these whimsical objects will be featured in the exhibit.-- From Facebook.com. |
