Jerry Dolyn Brown (November 9, 1942 – March 4, 2016) was an American folk artist and traditional
stoneware
Stoneware is a rather broad term for pottery or other ceramics fired at a relatively high temperature. A modern technical definition is a Vitrification#Ceramics, vitreous or semi-vitreous ceramic made primarily from stoneware clay or non-refracto ...
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and por ...
maker who lived and worked in
Hamilton, Alabama
Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Alabama, United States. It incorporated in 1896 and since 1980 has been the county's largest city, surpassing Winfield. It was previously the largest town in 1910. At the 2020 census, ...
. He was a 1992 recipient of a
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...
from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
and a 2003 recipient of the Alabama Folk Heritage Award.
His numerous showings included the 1984
Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife with his uncle, potter Gerald Stewart.
Biography
Brown is a ninth generation traditional potter, the son of Horace Vincent "Jug" Brown and Hattie Mae Stewart Brown.
He learned his art in childhood but had to give it up following the deaths of his older brother Jack and his father in 1964 and 1965. He worked in logging for nearly twenty years but then aided by his wife Sandra, his uncle Gerald Stewart and other family members was able to return to art in the early 1980s, building his studio from an old barn. Gerald in particular helped him re-learn techniques he had forgotten during the years in logging and it was Gerald who went with him to the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife. Sandra and Jerry continued to work together throughout his life. Jeff Wilburn, his stepson, worked with them and was trained as a full-time potter. Sandra is responsible for much of the
glazing, finishing and marketing, as well as much of the sculpture of the faces on the face jugs. She has the reputation of being "the most active female folk potter in Alabama".
He died on March 4, 2016 in
Tupelo, Mississippi
Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North M ...
after a brief illness.
Studio
As inheritor of both Brown and Stewart pottery traditions
Brown produced
utilitarian
In ethical philosophy, utilitarianism is a family of normative ethical theories that prescribe actions that maximize happiness and well-being for all affected individuals.
Although different varieties of utilitarianism admit different charac ...
stoneware in the nineteenth and early twentieth century styles as well as to create innovations for more modern usages, such as his apple baking dishes, chicken cookers and
microwave
Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ran ...
bacon cookers.
However much of his
critical
Critical or Critically may refer to:
*Critical, or critical but stable, medical states
**Critical, or intensive care medicine
*Critical juncture, a discontinuous change studied in the social sciences.
*Critical Software, a company specializing in ...
acclaim centered on recognition of his unique style of whimsical art, especially
face jug
The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human Personal identity, identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental d ...
s. (According to his mother he had learned the basics of whimsical pottery making from his father, as the Stewarts did not have a face jug tradition.)
Despite use of some modern equipment such as an electric kiln for firing some types of glazes and use of powered throwing wheels, he continued to use traditional methods such as digging his own clay, maintaining a
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
to power his
pug mill
A pugmill or pug mill is a machine in which clay or other materials are mixed into a plastic state or a similar machine for the trituration of ore. Industrial applications are found in pottery, bricks, cement and some parts of the concrete and asp ...
and firing most of his work in a brick kiln. Other Brown family traditions include the use of a chicken feather to apply some of the glazing patterns, the use of broken pots for teeth in the face jugs, the practice of a two piece method for large vessels and the use of wheel and handshaping techniques for complex pieces instead of
slip casting
Slip casting, or slipcasting, is a ceramic forming technique for pottery and other ceramics, especially for shapes not easily made on a wheel. In this method, a liquid clay body slip (usually mixed in a blunger) is poured into plaster moul ...
.
See also
*
Ash glaze
Ash glazes are ceramic glazes made from the ash of various kinds of wood or straw. They have historically been important in East Asia, especially Chinese pottery, Korean pottery, and Japanese pottery. Many traditionalist East Asian potteries stil ...
*
Catawba Valley Pottery
Catawba Valley Pottery describes alkaline glazed stoneware made in the Catawba River Valley of Western North Carolina from the early 19th century, as well as certain contemporary pottery made in the region utilizing traditional methods and forms.
...
(another Southern Traditional style of pottery)
*
List of American artists 1900 and after
This is a list by date of birth of historically recognized American fine artists known for the creation of artworks that are primarily visual in nature, including traditional media such as painting, sculpture, photography, and printmaking, as well ...
*
National Council for the Traditional Arts
The National Council for the Traditional Arts (NCTA) is a private, non-profit arts organization based in the United States that promotes the traditional arts. It organizes the National Folk Festival.
It is headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryl ...
Further reading
* Joey Brackner, ''Alabama Folk Pottery'', University Alabama Press; 1 edition (August 22, 2006),
* Kristin G. Congdon and Kara Kelley Hallmark, ''American Folk Art: A Regional Reference'', ABC-CLIO (March 19, 2012),
References
External links
Jerry Brown Pottery websiteDraft of article for ''Mississippi Archaeology'' which provides extensive background information about southern traditional potters (including Jerry Brown's parents) and their pottery.
Northwest Alabama Arts CouncilTranscript of ''Unbroken Tradition''Jerry Brown Arts Festival official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Jerry Dolyn
1942 births
2016 deaths
American art pottery
People from Lamar County, Alabama
Artists from Alabama
American potters
National Heritage Fellowship winners
20th-century American artists