On September 1, 2012 the Folk Pottery Museum
of Northeast Georgia opened a year-long special exhibition titled “Another Look at Lanier”, examining the legacy of Lanier Meaders.
“We associate Lanier Meaders almost exclusively with the development of folk pottery face jugs,” explains Museum Director Chris
Brooks. “This exhibition will show utilitarian ware such as churns and syrup jugs and some with decorative elements like grapes
and flowers that were characteristic of Lanier's work but are not well known.”
In 1967 the Smithsonian Institution filmed a documentary about Meaders family folk pottery, in which Lanier Meaders demonstrated
the traditions passed on to him by his parents, Cheever and Arie Meaders. Portions of the Smithsonian film are included in the
Meaders family video shown in the Folk Pottery Museum. Lanier Meaders also produced a number of face jugs to sell in summer,
1967, in Washington, D.C. at the Smithsonian's first Festival of American Folklife, noted by Dr. John Burrison in his definitive
history of Georgia folk pottery, “Brothers in Clay.”
Dr. Burrison, folklorist at Georgia State University, goes on to state in his 2010 book From Mud to Jug: “The craft of North
Georgia folk pottery is now kept alive by a collectors' market. ..Although Meaders pottery was being collected as early as the
1950s, major interest in Georgia folk pottery was first stimulated by two 1976 exhibits: The Meaders Family of Mossy Creek at
Georgia State University's Art Gallery and Missing Pieces: Georgia Folk Art, a Georgia Council for the Arts traveling
show that included a broad selection of pottery.”
The Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia is located four miles southeast of Alpine Helen on Georgia Highway
255 in Sautee Nacoochee, ¼ mile north of the junction with Georgia Highway 17.
The Museum is open Monday-Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm; Sunday 1-5 pm. Admission is $5 adults, $4 seniors, $2 children. For
further information contact cbrooks@snca.org or telephone 706-878-3300.
|
