Research Catalog

Title

Talking with the turners : conversations with southern folk potters / Charles R. Mack ; foreword by William R. Ferris ; introduction by Lynn Robertson.

Publication

Columbia, S.C. : University of South Carolina Press in cooperation with McKissick Museum, [2006], ©2006.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Mack, Charles R., 1940-2018.
• McKissick Museum.

Description

xxxiii, 233 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color); 24 cm +

Summary

"Traveling the back roads of North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, Charles R. Mack spent the summer of 1981 talking with the potters who produced the face jugs, mugs, and plates that had skyrocketed in popularity in the late 1970s and collecting examples of their wares. He was, in effect, taking the pulse of a southern folkway on the brink of transition. Mack had entered the world of Meaders and Smith, of Brown and Gordy, of pots and pug mills, of alkaline glazes and Albany slip, and he found himself welcomed into the shops of prominent "turners" who gladly talked to him with pride and candor about their profession." "With the benefit of a quarter century of hindsight, Mack has now gathered these interviews into Talking with the Turners, a single volume that documents the world of southern pottery as it shifted from the production of utilitarian wares to the aesthetic realm of folk art. In their own words the turners, most of whom are now deceased, explain what it means to be a potter, to be part of a profession that passes from generation to generation, to experiment with new designs while continuing to produce traditional forms of ceramics. Arranged thematically, the interviews emerge as an open dialogue among the participants - the type of backroom shoptalk that collectors and scholars are rarely privileged to share." "In addition to the centerpiece interviews - many of which are also featured on an audio CD accompanying the book - Mack includes numerous photos of the potters, their shops, and their wares. In forty-six color and thirty-four black-and-white images he captures the earnest humanity of the artists and the vivid beauty of their work. The color plates depict ceramics that Mack collected in his travels and later donated to the McKissick Museum."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

• Potters > Southern States > Interviews
• Folk artists > Southern States > Interviews
• Pottery, American > Southern States

Note

• "Thematic excerpts transcribed from interviews taped in the field in 1981 and preserved in the folklife resource center of the McKissick Museum of the University of South Carolina with introductory and concluding essays, complementary photography, and a CD recording of the potters' voices."

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. [217]-222) and index.

Contents

Commentary on the turning tradition -- On being a potter -- Family origins and family ties -- Growing up and being trained -- Recollections of changes and transitions -- Into the business -- The distaff side -- From clay pit to pot shop -- When they turned -- How they turned -- What they turned -- Innovations in technique and style -- Glazing -- The potter's kiln -- Kiln burning -- Marketing matters -- Turner tales -- What the future holds -- Epilogue : a generation later -- Talking with the Turners : audio CD track list.

ISBN

1570036004 (cloth : alk. paper)

LCCN

2005020427

OCLC

• OCM61162094
• SCSB-5229334

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries