# Face Jug



## pale scotsman

About pulled my arm out of joint trying to get to what I thought was a whiskey jug buried under about 30 years of detritus.  First thought was... damn that's ugly.  Second was it'll look cool cleaned up.  Threw this one on the bay too. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250558612418


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## SeanColvin

Hey man listen there is an episode of dirty jobs titled "Leather Tanner" that features a folk artist who's family has made face jugs in the Georgia/North Carolina area(s) for centuries I couldn't find the episode but I am betting it came from somebody in this guys family. All of his jugs look exactly like yours.


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## pale scotsman

Could be.  This one was by E.J. Brown and it looked like it was dumped with a bunch of florist vases.  Once again I probably should have kept it.


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## OsiaBoyce

Paulas into those jugs, I look at these every day. Most of these are new. A couple are from the Meaders clan, sadly none are by Lanier.


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## cyberdigger

It truely is one horribly ugly bit of manufacture but ironically that's the best thing about it.. it is divinely unsettling.. quite a dig, brother!


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## KBbottles

I think I saw one similar on antiques roadshow and it was actually referred to as "grotesque art."  lol


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## surfaceone

Hello Ian,

 Welcome to Unexpected Discoveries! Man, that is a Great Groteque Jug. Thanks for posting it. I had to do a little lookin for information on Evan Javan Brown. He certainly hails from a Potting Family.






 "Candles and lanterns provided light before homes had electricity. People would put a candle inside the lantern to help light a room. You could use the string on the top to hang it or you could carry the lantern like a flashlight.

 This earthenware lantern was made by Evan Javan Brown, Jr. (Born 1923) in Buncombe County in the mountains of North Carolina." From.






 "O'Henry Pottery and E.J. Brown Pottery, Valdese & Connelly Springs, North Carolina

 There is some confusion over whether the O'Henry Pottery was in Valdese, or in Connelly Springs where E.J. later had his pottery. 

 Circa 1937-1951 Valdese and Connelly Springs, North Carolina. Owned by Anderson Mitchell Church. The chief potter was Evan Javan Brown (b. 1897 â€“ d. 1980), other known potters include Edward Brown (b.1917 â€“ d. ?) and McGruder Bishop (b. ? â€“ d.1970).

 The pottery was named after the author Oâ€™Henry, a pen name for William Sydney Porter, born in Greensboro, NC (b. 1862-d.1910). O'Henry was a prolific writer who produced more than 600 short stories in his life. 

 Oâ€™Henry pottery was marked Valdese, but was actually made in Connelly Springs. Part of the pottery building still stands beside Highway 70 West of Connelly Springs, NC. This road, and its destination to the resort areas around Asheville are the main reason  for the O'Henry pottery to open in Connelly Springs, right on Highway 70. 

 Stamp: Oâ€™Henry Pottery Valdese, NC also sometimes Hand Made E.J. Brown.

 Art Pottery, dinnerware, churns, crocks, jars, jugs, face Jugs, flower pots, and utility pieces were all made in the pottery. Terra Cotta (unglazed) flowerpots, strawberry jars, and large Rebecca jugs and porch vases were made. Stoneware and earthenware clays were used, some locally dug. Alkaline glaze, Albany slip, Bristol and colored glazes were all used.

 E.J. Brown was the most prolific potter at Oâ€™Henry. He had learned to pot at his father's , James Osborn Brown's,  shop in Atlanta, GA, and had potted in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and both North and South Carolina. In 1951 A.M. Church sold the pottery to E. J. Brown. E.J. continued to run the pottery for some years as the Brown Pottery, Valdese, NC before moving to Arden, NC just outside of Asheville. His son , Evan Brown Jr. ran Evanâ€™s Pottery until his death in 2002.. EJ. Brown was the Son of James Osborn Brown of Atlanta, GA. Evan was the brother  of Davis Brown of Arden, North Carolina. Davis and E.J. started the Brown Pottery there which is still in operation today." From.






 " 		
 Face Jug
 about 1974
 Evan Javan Brown, Sr.
 glazed stoneware
 7 1/8 x 5 1/8 x 5 1/2 in. (18.1 x 12.9 x 14 cm)
 Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson
 1986.65.27

 Davis P. Brown, the founder of Brown's Pottery and Javan's brother, made the company's first devil jug in the early 1920s, which he placed outside the store's door to attract attention. Javan Brown probably crafted this face jug in his own workshop in Valdese, North Carolina. He made the teeth from pieces of broken plate, and used a thick black glaze to emphasize the face's ugly features." From.


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## jeb

I just ran across this site and these posts on one of Uncle Jay's face jugs - Evan Javan Brown. (1897-1980)

 Some of the info in this post is correct and some is not.

 First, Uncle Jay was one of the 4 brothers that started Brown Brothers Pottery in Arden, NC in 1925.  These 4 brothers were some of the most skilled turners in the south at the time - 200 gallons a day was a typical days work for them.  The Asheville area could not absorb the amount of wares that were coming out of the shop and after a period of time all the brothers except Davis Pennington Brown - my Grandpa - left the area.  In 1929 Grandpa moved about a half mile south and started Brown's Pottery, Arden, NC.  In 1939-40 that shop was torn down and what we called the "new" shop was built - this shop continued to produce all the normal handmade wares - crocks, chruns, jugs, etc. - as well a full line of French style cooking ware.  

 Uncle Jay spent most of his life going from one pottery to another, turning a kiln of ware and moving to the next shop.

 The Old Henry Pottery was in Connelly Springs, not Valdese.  McGruder Bishop was brought up from Georgia to put the shop together but left before it was complete - as far as I know, he never made a piece there as most of the equipment had not been installed before he left.  

 My Dad - James Edward Brown - finished putting the pottery together - a potters wheel, two flowerpot machines, a pug mill and Grandpa - Davis P. Brown - came down and he and Dad built the kiln and Dad did the turning and had others running the flowerpot machines.  The pottery industry was going through a major change during this time period - tin cans and glass containers were becoming the norm and trying to get skilled turners after WWII became almost impossible - after seeing the world, the younger generation did not want to return home and to the hard work needed in a pottery.   The Old Henry Pottery produced a large amount of pottery - mainly flowerpots - for the short time it was in full operation. 

 After Dad left, Uncle Jay spent some time there and even moved to the area - about a half mile east of the shop.  He never owned the pottery but did turn a kiln of ware once in a while.  He later built a small kiln behind his house and put his wheel in his living room and made a little pottery there until his death in 1980.  As mentioned above, he never moved back to the Arden area.

 The jugs shown are made by E.J. Brown - not his son, E.J. Brown, Jr., and are glazed with Albany slip - a clay mined near Albany, NY which would melt to a nice glaze when burned to cone 6 - a variation of chocolate brown to jeb black, depending upon the amount of reduction in the kiln.   

 Evan (Jr.) had his shop not far from my Grandpa's in the Avery's Creek area - Arden, NC.  Evan produced an amazing amount of pottery at his shop and unquestionably knew more about the potters and potteries of the south than any other person but because he names his pottery Evan's Pottery and did not use the Brown name, most people never made the connection to the history of the family - Americas largest and oldest pottery family.  As of this week, I have been able to trace the family back to 1717 in Virgina.

 Like most of the potteries, Old Henry made both earthenware flowerpots and garden ware - cone 04 burned - and  stoneware crocks, churns, jugs, etc. - cone 6 burned.  The same clay was use for both and was dug at the Statesville brick yard.  For some reason, today's studio potters seem to think that it is the clay that makes something earthenware or stoneware when. in fact, it is the temperature that the clay is burn to that makes the difference.  Some of the clays they sell today and label as earthenware clay will melt if burned to stoneware temps, however.

 One other point - they are REBECCA PITCHERS, not jugs.  

 There are some photos up on my web site - www.brownpotters.com - that might be of interest, enjoy.  - jb


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## surfaceone

> One other point - they are REBECCA PITCHERS, not jugs.


 
 Hello Jim,

 Thanks for coming by and straightening us out on your family's proud history. Your Website is excellent, and seems to have expanded and developed wonderfully.


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## surfaceone

> The Old Henry Pottery was in Connelly Springs, not Valdese.


 
 Hey Jim,

 You'll pardon me, please. When looking for information on Ian's grotesque "Rebecca," I found this photo:









 "Brown glazed mug, 4 inches. Stamped O'Henry Pottery, Valdese, NC Hand Made E.J. Bown." From.

 What are your thoughts on that? Completely different tribe?


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## VTdigger

that's neat I love face jugs, though I only find them at the goodwill and there not old at all, but if the price is right and there cool enough I add em to my collection.


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## ironmountain

I love face jugs. There's a woman up here that we met at an art fair who makes them and she sells the hell out of them on ebay.  She's lucky. She's a sculptress/potter and she gets to do what she loves to do and make phat money doing it....


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## jeb

Hi Surfaceone - the 1st and 3rd pics are from my web site - www.brownpotters.com - the 2nd one I did not have so tks for it.

 The first pic is of the 4 brothers - Otto, Davis, Willie and Javan (E.J. Brown) and some of the pots they made at the Brown Brothers Pottery in Arden, NC in 1926.  These 4 were some of the most skilled potters in the south and the Asheville area could not support the amount of ware they produces.  For that reason, and the fact that they were just not use to staying in one place for very long, all but Davis moved on after a couple of years.

 In 1929, Davis - my Grandpa - bought a place just south of this location and started Brown's Pottery - That tin plate - which I have - is of that shop.  In 1939, this was torn down to build what we called the new shop in Arden - my web site has many pictures of all 3 locations and I will be putting up more.

 Ref family history, I have just come in contact with two distant family members that have traced the history of the family now back to 1717 in Virgina.  

 Take care - jb


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## ironmountain

here's her website...

 http://www.thepotterswheeltoo.com/face-jugssculpture.html

 she's considered one of the top ten face jug maker's in the US. The pics of the ones she has on her website are cheesy compared to the ones I've seen at her shows.


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## epackage

Interesting Jugs, I have hated them from the first time I saw them on the Road Show....to each his own I guess as collectors...


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## jeb

Iron, I am amazed at the power of the written word - someone, usually a professor that has his students do the research for him - puts something in a book and forever after every book written on the subject will use the same info.  Seems they read the books that came before and just churn the info without checking it.  

 Case in point - one of the first books written on southern folk artist had that Grandpa and the other brothers came to Arden, NC in 1923.  It was 1925 but virtually every book written since then has the 1923 date.

 This story about slaves "bring face jugs" the the US had never been heard of until it was written in a book about pottery a few years back - now, everybody quotes that as absolute fact for where they came from.  Considering that people have been putting faces on different objects - including pottery - for 1,000's of years it is not a very logical conclusion but, hey, it makes for a good story.  

 Also, the last true research on slaves making potter came up with only one known slave in SC actually turning.  Slaves were use for all the manual labor but a turner was a very special craft and held in high esteem.

 But whatever the origin, my family was certainly some of the first ones that made face jugs and made more of them that any other family.  Except for my family, there are almost no photos or notations of any other family making them until many, many years after ours.  The other family that is noted to have made them were the Meaders of north Georgia.  Up until face jugs became the rage, they were more know for their roosters than face jugs.

 The picture on my web site of the second Arden shop - the better one than the tin place but the same shop - has several face jugs hanging from wires on the front pouch - I will put a blowup of them up on my site later.

 Take care - jb


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## ironmountain

it's sweet that you can trace these back through your lineage and have pictures also.  I'd never heard of the slave side of it all either. But I don't collect them and rarely see them up here, unless I run across one from Lorrie, or see her at a show.  Nice to have family be a central part of that rich folk pottery art


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