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More than 50 pieces of pottery and audio recordings will bring folk-pottery traditions of the Deep South alive for visitors to McKissick Museum beginning August 5.
The exhibit, "Talking with the Turners: Southern Folk Pottery," draws from original research by USC art historian Charles R. Mack and McKissick Museum's extensive holdings. The exhibit will remain on display through January 6.
On September 7, McKissick will sponsor a reception at 5:30-7 p.m. for visitors to meet Mack and tour the exhibit. Mack will sign copies of his book Talking with the Turners, which was released earlier this year by USC Press.
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| Hilton pottery |
A large selection of pottery, including face jugs, crocks, and jars that Mack collected along his back-road travels in 1981 through the Carolinas, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi will be featured, as well as color photographs and audio recordings of interviews he conducted with Southern potters.
Examples of pottery on display will reflect the different types of clay and molding and glazing techniques used by Southern potters.
McKissick Museum will complement Mack's pottery and research with documentation from research conducted by the museum's folklife staff in 2006 and 2007 on the current work being done by traditional potters today in the South.
McKissick weaves Mack's research with its own to tell the story of how the folk-pottery traditions of the Deep South evolved, the shift from the production of utilitarian wares to folk art, their growth in popularity during the late 1970s among buyers and collectors, and the expressive pottery forms that continue today.
Mack, who has taught art history at USC since 1970, is a Louise Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts and the William Joseph Todd Professor of the Italian Renaissance. He is an expert on pottery traditions, including those of Germany and the American South. In addition to Talking with the Turners, Mack has written books on the Italian Renaissance and Francis Lieber.
USC's McKissick Museum has one of the largest Southern folklife collections in the Southeast and nation. Its Southern pottery collection is impressive not only in terms of scope--number of pieces and potters represented--but in terms of supporting materials that document the pottery folk-art tradition.
McKissick Museum exhibitions are free and open to the public. The museum is located on USC's Horseshoe and is open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. The museum is closed on Sundays and holidays.
For more information, call 7-7251, or go to the McKissick Museum Web site at www.cas.sc.edu/MCKS/.
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Items and illustrations featured in "Talking with the Turners" at McKissick Museum include work by Bill Gordy, above.
Bybee pottery
Howard Connor
Norman Smith
