Fire in the foothills

Abstract

This study examined the methods in which the techniques utilized in the creation of folk pottery were learned within generations of three Northeast Georgia folk potters. The qualitative methodologies of portraiture and narrative inquiry were used to explore the questions: (1) In what ways do the folk potters in this study describe their communities of practice?, (2) How have the available natural resources affected clays, glazes, and methods of production for three 21st century folk potters that arose from North Georgia traditions?, (3) How does each representative potter participant describe his/her quality or contribution to the aesthetics to the family’s North Georgia folk pottery?, and (4) How is the aesthetic genealogy of traditional North Georgia folk pottery traced in each participant’s folk pottery? The study was conducted with three folk potters to seek understanding of the pedagogical means used and to decide if the methods are applicable to a high school classroom setting. Two of the participants had begun teaching an apprentice. In addition to observing the folk potters in action, interviews were conducted with the three folk potters and their families and a sampling of the lessons was videotaped. Analysis revealed that pottery lessons were not conducted in a formal setting as practiced in the public school system. Instead, the majority of the lessons were learned by the younger family members by observing the more experienced, older family members. Although the settings are based on apprenticeship, some aspects could be replicated in the high school classroom.