Backcountry Notes

 BOOK LIST - Books on North Carolina pottery, along with my reviews and recommendations:

Turners and Burners - The Folk Potters of North Carolina, by Charles G. Zug III (University of North Carolina Press 1986).  * * * * (four stars - very highly recommended).  This is an essential work on traditional North Carolina pottery.  Charles Zug is a long-time student of the craft and this book reflects a tremendous depth of research and knowledge.  The book's focus is on the historic development of North Carolina pottery as a folk craft, beginning with Colonial era pioneers and continuing through the early 1980s.  Along the way, Zug educates the reader in techniques, materials, forms, and many of the potters themselves.  "Turners and Burners" is a standard-setter and for anyone getting started in North Carolina pottery is an essential reference tool.

Seagrove Pottery - The Walter & Dorothy Auman Legacy, by Quincy Scarborough and Robert Armfield (1992).  * * * (three stars - highly recommended).  Walter and Dorothy Auman were the leaders in the renaissance of what was to become known as "Seagrove Pottery."  Believe it or not, at mid-century there was no such thing as "Seagrove" pottery.  There was not a single pottery in Seagrove, North Carolina (there were some nearby in the Steeds - Westmoore area); there was not a single working potter with a Seagrove, North Carolina, address.  From the founding of the Aumans' Seagrove Pottery shop in 1952, to the explosive growth in Seagrove studio potteries in the 1980s and the subsequent fame of Seagrove, the Aumans led the way.  Their work is the foundation of the Mint Museum NC Pottery collection and the inspiration for the North Carolina Pottery Center.  Walter and Dorothy died tragically in a traffic accident in 1991; "Seagrove Pottery - The Walter & Dorothy Auman Legacy" was soon published as a memorial and tribute to this remarkable couple.  Quincy Scarborough is a knowledgeable, long-time collector; Robert Armfield was an apprentice in the Seagrove Pottery in the late 1970s and presently operates his own shop.  The book provides a history of the Aumans and their work, along with numerous pictures of their pottery, including rare pieces. 

North Carolina Art Pottery, 1900-1960, by Everette James (Collector Books 2003).  * * * .  This is a book for collectors written by a well-known authority and collector, Everette James.  An ambitious work, "North Carolina Art Pottery" covers that period of the 20th century which saw the development and growth of a unique artisan-based industry which, over the course of the six decades covered by the book, produced a remarkable output of folk-craft based art pottery notable for its quality, variety, and volume.  The remarkable potters who drove this cottage industry competed with the output of mechanized factories in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere; this story, alone, is worth knowing and retelling.  The James book covers the early art potteries, such as Jugtown (which still survives), the "transitional" art pottery wares of the 1920s and early 1930s, and the mid-century products of numerous makers.  The book is well-illustrated and is particularly strong in pieces from the 1920-1940 era, which are generally scarce and can be hard to identify.  There is valuable information on styles, forms, glazes, marks, and identification criteria.  The photographs suffer from some inconsistency of quality (backgrounds are often inappropriate and distracting) but on the whole provide a valuable resource for the student and collector.

Raised In Clay - The Southern Pottery Tradition, by Nancy Sweezy (University of North Carolina Press 1984). * * * *  - This is an essential book for students and collectors of Southern pottery.  While not restricted to North Carolina pottery, it covers many of the state's well-known folk and art pottery operations.  Nancy Sweezy is a potter who operated  Jugtown Pottery from 1968 until 1981; her knowledge of the techniques and details of "turning and burning" make "Raised In Clay" a valuable contribution to the literature.  This book contains fewer pictures of the pottery itself, and more pictures and descriptions of the potters, their shops, and their equipment and tools.  It is illustrated with numerous excellent line drawings in addition to vintage photographs.  Along with Zug's "Turners and Burners," "Raised In Clay" is a primary resource for anyone wanting to learn about traditional North Carolina pottery.

The Traditional Potters of Seagrove, North Carolina, by Robert C. Lock (Antiques and Collectibles Press 1994). * * * (highly recommended).  This is a collector-oriented work which covers the full panoply of traditional pottery originating in the North Carolina piedmont.  Seagrove, NC, located at the center of the state, has emerged as the center of this tradition.  The regional focus of Lock's book permits a reasonably thorough representation of the pottery of this Seagrove area.  "Traditional Potters" covers stoneware, earthenware, and art pottery styles, with the strongest emphasis on the art pottery production.  It is profusely illustrated, although the photography is inexplicably flawed by the choice of inappropriate backgrounds (usually a graduated blue, which causes blue-glazed pieces to fade or become indistinct and contrasts garishly with yellows and reds).  Many pieces are presented in as-found condition and the book provides a good  representation of what is "out there," waiting to be rediscovered.  There are a few errors in the book (for example, the mis-identification of several J. B. Cole pieces as being glazed in "Mottled Green," a rare feldspathic glaze, when they are actually glazed in Green-Over-White, popularly known as "Malachite," a combination of two fritted glazes), but on the whole the information is reasonably informative and well-presented.

North Carolina Decorated Stoneware - The Webster School of Folk Pottery, by Quincy J. Scarborough, Jr. (1986).  * * * (highly recommended).  This is a well-done collector's and reference work by a well-known student and collector of North Carolina pottery, Quincy Scarborough.  The focus of this book is the stoneware of the 19th century, and particularly stoneware decorated with inscribed or brushed-on designs.  This genre of North Carolina pottery is well-represented in the book.  Decorated stoneware pieces are rare and difficult to find; "North Carolina Decorated Stoneware"  is a primary tool for anyone engaged in the hunt for such pottery.

The Remarkable Potters of Seagrove: The Folk Pottery Of A Legendary North Carolina Community, by Charlotte Brown (Lark 2006).  X (not recommended!). This is the worst book ever written on North Carolina pottery, or Southern pottery generally. THIS BOOK SHOULD HAVE A WARNING LABEL! It is packed with misinformation and inaccuracies. There are some nice pictures, but otherwise it is poorly researched and poorly written. Examples: 1. On page 51, writing of J B Cole: 'He was quick to switch his kilns from wood to oil and gas.' Actually, Waymon Cole converted the wood kiln to kerosene in the early 1950s, about 10 years after J B Cole died, and the kiln was rebuilt for propane in the early 80s. 2. Two pages (9 and 65) feature a picture of a very nice pair of Waymon Cole floor vases, described as 'circa 1940.' They are clearly from the 50s or early 60s. 3. Page 65: '[C C Cole] ran a pottery production shop but was not himself a potter.' Charlie Cole was a potter, but he gave up turning after he lost a finger because of a snake bite. 4. Page 68: '[Dorothy & Walter] Auman pottery was hand-signed 'Seagrove, NC' or 'Seagrove Pottery' on the bottom.' While I haven't seen every piece of Seagrove Pottery, NONE of the many hundreds that I have seen were so marked. 5. Page 11, speaking of the Great Wagon Road and early settlers: 'This slow stream of people rolled down the Great Wagon Road from Philadelphia, coming south to the Catawba Valley . . . .' Actually, NO! There is an illustration on the same page showing the Great Wagon Road entering North Carolina at the wrong place and from the wrong direction and running to the Yadkin River, which is accurate. That branch of the Great Wagon Road actually came from the Roanoke Valley and was also known as the Carolina Road. The western branch of the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road, called The Great Road, ran to the Holston Valley and into northeast Tennessee, but NOT to the Catawba Valley! There is a very clear and traceable relationship of early redwares beginning in eastern Pennsylvania, then moving into western Pennsylvania, then into the Shenandoah Valley, then to central NC by way of the Carolina Road and to southwestern Virginia and northeastern Tennessee by the Great Road western branch. No such relationship exists with the Catawba Valley potters, who are generally considered to have come from South Carolina, bringing with them the alkaline-glazing technique which was completely absent in Virginia, Tennessee, and central North Carolina. 6. They also have Asheville labeled as 'Asheboro' in the illustration on the same page. These samples reflect a serious, fundamental lack of knowledge of the history of North Carolina pottery.

North Carolina Pottery:  The Collection of the Mint Museums, ed. by Barbara Stone Perry (University of North Carolina Press 2004).  * * * - Highly Recommended.  The strength of this book is the photography, which is generally excellent of gives very accurate color renditions.  This work demonstrates the extraordinary breadth of the North Carolina pottery tradition.  The backbone of the Mint Museums collection is the Dorothy and Walter Auman collection which the Museums acquired in 1983, and these pieces are very well represented in the book.  The Aumann collection is particularly strong in stoneware; the Mint Museums book includes such examples as the Dan Cagle "Whynot" jug, circa 1900 [46]; the marked W. H. Chisco jug, also circa 1900 [55]; the outstanding J. A. Craven "Masonic Emblem" jar, circa 1855 [142]; the famous Chester Webster four-gallon jug [396] and runlet [397] decorated with incised fish; and a fortuitous side-by-side comparison of a salt-glazed jug by W. H. Hancock [184] and an alkaline-glazed jug by David Hartsoe [186].  The selection of Moravian earthenware includes a superb decorated plate attributed to Gottfried Aust, circa 1780 [255].  Complementing the "catalog" section of the book are excellent histories by Daisy Wade Bridges and Charlie Zug.  The potters and pieces are constrained by the limits of the Mint Museum collection, which is less strong in the art pottery era - - the pieces shown for Joe Owen, for example, are not representative of his work, and there is not a single item attributed to either Virginia Mae Shelton or Philmore Graves.  In addition, there are some questionable art pottery attributions; for example, two of the pieces attributed to J. B. Cole, [99] and [101], have the characteristic glaze results and edge browning of pottery made at the J. B. Cole shop beginning about 1953, ten years after Jace Cole died.  Nonetheless, the illustrations of Auman-collection stoneware are worth the price of the book.  (I may have a soft spot for those pieces; in my teenage years, they were kept in the old railroad station building behind the Seagrove Pottery, where I was not merely permitted to look at them, but encouraged to pick them up and get a feel for them.)

New Ways For Old Jugs:  Tradition and Innovation at the Jugtown Pottery (McKissick Museum 1994).  * * - Recommended. This book was conceived as the catalog for an exhibition at the McKissick Museum in Columbia, S.C., in 1994.  The Catalog of Objects is more like an appendix, however; the creators of this volume did an excellent job of documenting the history of Jugtown in words and pictures.  New Ways For Old Jugs is a much about the people who created and nurtured the Jugtown phenomenon as it is about the pottery.  The book includes writings by founders Jacques and Juliana Busbee and transcribed interviews with Melvin Owens, Charlie Zug, and many others.  There are numerous monochrome pictures (the few color photographs are in the Catalog of Objects), giving the book a "historic" look and feel.  On the negative side, this volume was produced in a small format, has a small typeface, and is bound in a way that makes it difficult to open fully without damaging the spine.  - - It is hard to overstate the importance of Jugtown Pottery; its establishment in 1921 touched off an explosion of art-pottery production which resonates to this day.  There are North Carolina Art Pottery enthusiasts who collect nothing else.  New Ways For Old Jugs is a valuable resource for those who appreciate the genre.