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American Folk Art Face Vessels
The Assignment: to create a Face Jug inspired by the Folk Art Face Jugs of the South.
Objective – to create a jug that is:
 Functional
 Highly expressive – the facial expressions must make up one entire side of your jug
 Representational of a person OR animal; this can be an expressive realistic vision or an
expressive representation completed in the traditional style of Folk Art Face Jugs
 Is creative and unique
 A minimum of 8 inches tall
Brief History of Face Jugs
In the United States, face jugs were made in North and South Carolina beginning around 1810. Between
1810 and 1865, an abundance of functional pottery was produced in the remote Potteries in North and
South Carolina and was sold to neighboring states. It quickly spread throughout the Carolinas, Georgia
and Alabama, resulting in the production of thousands of distinct face jugs of all sizes, shapes and
designs.
The Edgefield area in South Carolina is endowed with rich clay resources including massive deposits of
kaolin, sands, feldspars, and pine trees, all necessary for making pottery. The heart of the Edgefield
stoneware tradition involved manufacture of ware using what is termed today "alkaline" glaze. Edgefield
potters took basically feldspar, wood ashes, lime, and sand - grinding and blended it to make a crude
celadon glaze. Most typically formed were storage jars from one-half to thirty gallons commonly used
for pickling, salting meat, and storing lard. Also formed were jugs for holding vinegars, wines, pitchers,
pans, and bowls for the kitchen.
The Old Edgefield District birthed a stoneware tradition of making vessels with African slave labor.
Edgefield Potteries was worked in part by artisan slaves who turned the pots, pushed the wheels,
carried the pottery and loaded the kilns. In their free time, some of the artisans made pottery of their
own choice. Many of them chose to make jugs and pots now known as Face Jugs. One black slave
potter named only as Dave was one of the most industrious potter’s of his day, he made large storage
jars, and was known to write poems on some, and– he signed and dated many others, his pottery is in
demand from- collectors- as well as –museums. Two other African slave artists named Craig and
Meaders could barely get 25 cents for their jugs while they were alive, and now, their jugs sell for four
and five digit prices.
These jugs were made of stoneware and were 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 jug,
there is no doubt that the vessels were original, functional, utilitarian artistic expressions of the African
slave culture of the time. The origins of the face jug, a folk tradition among African American potters in
the South, remain obscure. Whether the pieces were intended as representations of actual people or
not do 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. This all adds to the mystery of possible
deeper meaning of the Face Vessels in the slave culture. Only a few of the skilled potters who made Face
Jugs have been identified by name and their inspiration for making face vessels is really unknown.
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Face Jugs 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.
Many of the early pieces were small in scale. They were thrown on the wheel in the harvest jug style
where there is an overhead strap handle on the body of the pot off set with one or more spouts. Teeth
and eyes were made from white kaolin clay to contrast the darker color of the stoneware clay. These
early pieces were glazed with alkaline glazes and fired in large wood burning kilns.
As competition increased, potters - around the 1840’s - began to slip decorate their wares using iron slip
and kaolin based white slips resulting in objects today that are avidly sought and esteemed by scholars
and collectors.
Time brought many changes. The death knell of many potters across the country came with the
invention of the Mason screw top jar in 1858. Combined with the move from the farm to the city, the
breakup of the plantations, and the slave economy after the Civil War, the traditions of many of the
potteries almost went into extinction. There were a few remaining families that carried on the tradition.
Among several notable artisans from pottery families are Lanier Meaders of Georgia, The Owens and
Kings Pottery of North Carolina, who are largely responsible for the increased popularity of the jugs
since the 1970’s.
As interesting as the faces on the jugs are the faces behind the contemporary jugs. Many of today's
producers of face jugs are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the potters who
started this tradition hundreds of years ago.
Folk Lore Associated with Face Jugs – aka “Ugly Jugs”
Ugly jugs or mugs became an American folk art tradition beginning in the 1800s. The time and place this
tradition began depends on your source, and the jugs had several purposes which could all be valid. Folk
lore handed down generation to generation told that slaves made ugly jugs
to distinguish the different liquids inside. Jugs with faces were for the ones
you couldn’t drink, like ones filled with kerosene. According to family folk
lore, ugly jugs were also used by slaves as grave markers, made ugly to
scare the devil away. It is also said that ugly jugs were used to keep kids
out of the moonshine. They were made as scary as possible for this
purpose.
The most common stories are that they were invented as a way to warn
children of the poisonous contents of the jars (be it arsenic or moonshine)
or that they were meant to keep away evil spirits from the graves of family
members.