In 1981, University of South Carolina art professor Charles Mack traveled the South to document traditional pottery. A departure for Mack, whose research normally focused on Italian Renaissance architecture, he also had a passion for traditional pottery. Supported by a Research and Productive Scholarship Grant from the university, he set out to document every traditional potter still working in the region. Mack collected over two hundred pieces of pottery, took hundreds of photographs, and recorded over twenty hours of interviews with more than forty potters. Mack’s research resulted in the recently published book “Talking with the Turners: Conversations with Southern Folk Potters” and was a major component of an exhibit at McKissick Museum in the fall of 2006.
View the potters by state below.
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In 1981, University of South Carolina art professor Charles Mack traveled the South to document traditional pottery. A departure for Mack, whose research normally focused on Italian Renaissance...
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Since the first kilns were built by Spaniards on the South Carolina coast in the late 1500s, pottery has played an essential role in American life. People depended less on store-bought goods and the...
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Dr. Charles Mack: It’s only in the South that the folk pottery heritage of this country has been able to maintain an uninterrupted presence. The potters, with whom I spoke, in the summer of 1981...
