For immediate release
Unique Northeast Georgia Folk Pottery Museum Wins Second Prestigious Design Award and First International World Architecture Citation
The Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia in the beautiful Sautee-Nacoochee valley in White County has been awarded a prestigious South Atlantic Region American Institute of Architects Merit Award for Excellence in Architecture. This is the second national design award given this unique museum --- it also took one of only two Honor Awards given in 2008 by AIA-Georgia. The Honor Award is the highest design recognition given by the American Institute of Architects and acknowledges recently completed “architecture of distinction”. In its fifth cycle of recognition of outstanding architectural design, worldwide, the museum has been cited by the World Architecture Community, a consortium comprised of internationally recognized architects, leaders and educators from all over the world and the US.
Opened in September of 2006, the museum is the result of the vision and generosity of benefactors Dean and Kay Swanson of Cornelia, former owners of the Standard Telephone Company who committed to erect this museum as their way of giving back to the people of the area. The Swansons assembled a team of designers, contractors and consultants who worked diligently to realize the design of the architect, Robert M. Cain of Atlanta, Georgia.
The 2009 SAR AIA Awards jury chairman was the nationally well-known and distinguished architect Ted Flato, FAIA, of Lake/Flato Architects.
Until 2005, when the project was conceived, there was no institution devoted to Northeast Georgia folk pottery, not even in its home area. The museum showcases the handcraft skills of one of the South’s premier grassroots art forms, and explores the historical importance and changing role of folk pottery in southern life. Cain says the building’s design, open spaces and airy nature are a contemporary reflection on the straightforward traditional farm structures of northeast Georgia and, in particular, take inspiration from photographs of turn of the century open-air pottery shops as well as structures he remembers on his grandfather’s Alabama farm.
Northeast Georgia has received national attention for its tradition of folk pottery and is home to such noted potter families as Meaders, Hewell, Dorsey and Ferguson. The curator for the collection is the esteemed Dr. John A. Burrison, author of Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery published by the University of Georgia Press. Dr. Burrison served on the Folk Arts Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts from 1984 through 1987 and has worked as a consultant for the Smithsonian Institution and lectured at both the Library of Congress and the Ulster Folk Museum.
The Meaders family of White County was featured in Allen Eaton’s 1937 book, Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands, and was honored with a special event at the Library of Congress in 1978, when the Smithsonian Institution’s documentary film on the Meaders Pottery was released. In the year 2000, northeast Georgia received a Library of Congress "Local Legacies" designation for its pottery heritage. The tradition also has been featured in magazines, books, videos, exhibits, and festivals such as the Southern Crossroads Marketplace at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.
Great care was taken in siting the building, determining its shape and selecting materials. The building utilizes a variety of sustainable building products and design techniques. The exhibition area is long and linear and its axis oriented east and west for reduction of solar loads and thus reduction of the size, expense and life cycle costs of air conditioning systems. Similarly the extensive overhangs and awnings of the building shield the interior from direct sun in summer, but allow sun to penetrate in winter to assist in heating. The museum utilizes heavy timbers and wood products harvested from sustainable forests in the region as well as other locally- or regionally-produced products. The courtyard rain garden is designed to infuse runoff from the structures back into natural aquifers.
In the process of designing the museum, the question of daylight became an issue: Did it make sense to build a typical artificially lighted, windowless museum? Most museums must protect fragile artifacts and are thus hermetically sealed and protected from sunlight. However, pottery ware is not light sensitive. You can leave ware outside for 50 years and it can look as new as the day it came out of the kiln.Thus, in the museum's design, natural light and the views of the stunningly beautiful Sautee Valley were allowed to anchor the interior to its surroundings and visually extend almost every space in the museum.
For more information about the museum call (706) 878-3300 or email cbrooks@snca.org