American Ugly Jugs: Historical Face Vessels

1. Bell Ringer 3-9-15 • What is an “ugly jug”?

2. Bell Ringer 3-10-15 Please get out your sketchbook and open to “February 24th, 2015” I will come around to check – You may get started on your project.

3. Bell Ringer 3-11-15 What is the saying for attaching two pieces of clay together?

4. Bell Ringer 3-12-15 If you receive “newer” clay – what is the process of equalizing the texture & moisture level within the “new” clay and “older” clay?

5. UGLY JUGS American Face Vessels OBJECT NAME: Face VesselsMATERIAL: Alkaline-glazed StonewareMAKER: Attributed to Black Slave PottersLOCATION OF MANUFACTURE: Edgefield District, South CarolinaDATE OF MANUFACTURE: Mid-19th CenturyMARKS: NoneDIMENSIONS: 5" High X 3" WideACQUISITION INFORMATION: From the Estate of Mary Elizabeth Sinnott DESCRIPTION: Two small stoneware jugs modeled in the shape of human faces. The jugs are covered with a mottled, dark green alkaline glaze. Unglazed kaolin is used to form eyes and teeth. HISTORY: This distinctive type of ceramic face vessel first appeared in the American South in the mid-1800s. Jugs such as these are attributed to a small number of Black slaves working as potters in the Edgefield District of South Carolina. None of these skilled potters have been identified by name and their inspiration for making face vessels is unknown. Scholars speculate that the vessels may have had religious or burial significance, or that they reflect the complex responses of people attempting to live and maintain their personal identities under harsh conditions.

6. Most scholars agree that the first face jugs were made in Edgefield, South Carolina by African slaves who labored in the pottery factories there. They were very small (5-9 inches tall) and made to fit in the open spaces in the kilns used for income.

7. Also of African origin are pots termed "face vessels" – usually jugs but sometimes cups, crocks or pitchers with a face molded into the object using white kaolin clay for eyes and teeth. These small objects are powerful expressions reminiscent of African sculpture.

8. It is believed that the west African tribes represented the head disproportionately large because the head was believed to hold a person’s soul. There spiritual beliefs were also heavily tied to an individual’s relationship with their ancestors. Therefore, the face vessels were used as a means of prayer or mediation. There are also verbal accounts of slaves marking graves with the face jugs – another connection with their deceased ancestors. Face Vessels, Stoneware, United States, 19th and 20th century, Makers unknown. From the Eleanor and Mabel Van Alstyne Collection of American Folk Art

9. Depicting a face or human figure on jugs and jars is neither new nor rare. For centuries, anthropomorphic pottery has been made in England, Germany, Peru, Japan, Africa, Egypt and Mexico. Their uses have ranged from ritualistic and funerary to honoring nobility. In the United States, face jugs and vessels were made in the North beginning around 1810. However, the southern United States has been the world's most prolific region for face vessels.

10. The purpose of the earliest Southern jugs, aside from their utilitarian use of holding liquid, remains a mystery. Whether the pieces were intended as representations of actual people or not does not diminish the artistry and beautifully sculpted and often abstract features that bind Southern face jugs as a folk art or their popularity among collectors.

11. Many of them chose to make jugs and pots now known as Face Vessels. These were often stoneware jugs modeled in the shape of human faces. They were most often alkaline glazed stoneware in simple, earthy tones. Though there are many gaps in historical data regarding the making, use and meaning of the face vessel pottery, there is no doubt that the vessels were original, functional artistic expressions of the African slave culture of the time.

12. Face Vessels have been found along the routes of the Underground Railroad and on gravesites, both indicating how highly they were valued and how closely connected they were with the enslaved African American’s own culture.

13. Some of the most interesting and sought after vessels are those by Dave Pottery – a literate slave trained to set type for Dr. Abner Landrum's Pottersville newspaper. Dave commonly signed and dated his ware, and less often wrote simple verses on his sometimes massive twenty and thirty gallon jars and jugs. Some speak of food, religion, shoes, lions, volcanoes, and money.

14. Sources • http://www.jonespottery.com/face-jugs/ • http://river.chattanoogastate.edu/orientations/ex-learn-obj/Face_Jugs/Face_Jugs_print.html • http://www.newton.k12.in.us/art/3d/images/facejugs/(Good examples) Face Vessel Potters • Charlie Lisk • Javan Brown • Kim Ellington • Steven Abee • Burlon Craig