| “I’m a ninth-generation
potter. I guess that was my call to make pottery and I
enjoy doing it.” Jerry
Brown from Hamilton, Alabama, continues his long-standing
family tradition of creating churns, crocks, bowls and
decorative face jugs. In carrying on the craft of alkaline-glazed
stoneware, Jerry Brown plays a vital role encouraging
other southern folk potters, including his own family
members, to keep the tradition alive. |
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“A lot of people don’t
know what traditional means. It means somebody carrying
on the art from one generation to the next. Other than
two things, I’m still doing the same thing that
all my ancestors did going through the nine generations.
One of the things, I fire my kiln with gas, where they
used wood. And my daddy, the first wheel I ever seen
him have was a wheel you kicked by foot. Eventually
he went to electric. Other than the gas kiln and the
electric wheel, we’re still doing it just like
my ancestors did back in the 1700-1800’s.”
“They
made pretty well the same kind of pottery, I did. Back
then, they made more churns and flower pots and flue
thimbles. Back then, everything was made for just about
a necessity. They used it. They made a lot of jugs,
you know, they put their, I’ve heard my daddy
talk about they put their syrup up in jugs and several
other things too.”
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