If you go
› What: Jim McDowell one-man show› Where: Chattanooga Theatre Centre, 400 River St.› When: 2 p.m. Sunday, July 22› Admission: $15 or $10 Houston Museum members› For more information: 423-267-7176
Children’s Clay Class
Houston Museum Outreach Coordinator Lilly Waters will hold a class for 30 children ages 11-14 to create pottery while learning about Dave the Potter, face jugs and traditional clay art techniques from Jim McDowell on Saturday, July 21.The class will be held at Scenic City Clay Arts, 301 E. 11th St., at 3 p.m. There is a $10 fee. Reservations are required: 423-267-7176.
Fans of “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS will immediately recognize the name “Dave the Potter.”
The South Carolina slave was a highly skilled potter who risked punishment to create pottery inscribed with sentiments on the variety of clay jugs he created. To come into possession of one of his pieces is a rare find, and “Roadshow” visitors who bring in one of Dave’s pieces almost always find it is valued in the thousands of dollars.
Potter Jim McDowell will portray Dave Drake, aka Dave the Potter, in a one-man show that tells the history of the potter and of face jugs on Sunday, July 22, at 2 p.m. in the Chattanooga Theatre Centre.
That’s one of two events for which the Houston Museum of Decorative Arts is bringing McDowell to town. He will also teach a clay class for children ages 11-14 on Saturday, July 21.
Inspired by his family’s oral tradition and his own research, McDowell makes face jugs based on folk tradition of pottery vessels made in the form of a human face. Because the graves of African-American slaves were not allowed to have stone markers, families resorted to face jugs. Ugly features on a face jar were meant to scare the devil away so the soul could go to heaven.
When McDowell began making face jugs in 1983, he poured “all his stored-up emotions about slavery, his share-cropper ancestors, civil rights, discrimination he experienced in the mines and the military, religious beliefs and more into the face jugs,” according to his website.
McDowell honors Dave the Potter in his art by including written messages on the face jugs he makes – usually an anti-slavery message on one side and a message for today on the other.
“We have a rare, highly treasured Edgefield face jug in our collection,” says Houston Museum Executive Director Amy Autenreith. “And Jim McDowell embodies that history in the face jugs he makes and with his one-man performance. We want to share this experience and knowledge with Chattanooga.”
For more information: 423-267-7176.