TEXTURE

2012-02-11T13:05:00.002-05:00

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT TEXTURE - AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17th AT 6:00 PM.

MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN YOUR RESPONSE.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR RESPONSES ARE EACH AT LEAST 5 SENTENCES LONG AND ANSWER ALL THE BULLET-POINT QUESTIONS TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT!

REMEMBER - THIS IS A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT - DO NOT USE TEXT LANGUAGE – CHECK YOUR SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND USE PROPER CAPITALIZATION!!

TEXTURE

Texture refers to how something feels or looks like it feels. Clay has the delightful property of being able to capture a myriad of textures simply by pressing objects into the clay. Clay may be made to look like stone, bark, lace, burlap, leather, whipped cream or icing, terry cloth, metal or made as smooth as glass. The number of textures that you can create in clay are infinite.

Texture is often used to create emphasis in a piece of pottery. For example, a smooth area (and smooth IS a texture) may be emphasized by placing it next to a highly textured area. This method of contrasting textures is used by many potters. Look at the examples on the right.

PROMPT #1

You've spent two weeks creating the form of your African-inspired Face Jug. At this point, please take a few minutes and think about the textures your will create on your jug.
If you had to change the texture on your jug right now, how would you change it?
Do you prefer pieces of pottery with texture or do you prefer smoother surfaces? Why?
Did you do any experimenting with texture while creating your jug? If so, what did you try and what techniques did you like or not like about your experiments?

PROMPT #2

One way to create texture is to press objects into clay - this method is called embossing.
If you were to choose a pot from the pieces on the right and were going to change a texture on one of the pots by embossing the surface, what kind of textures would you emboss into the pot?
In what way would this improve the look of the piece?

PROMPT #3

Other ways to create texture are to carve into the clay or to build areas of the clay up to create a textured surface.
Choose one of the pieces of pottery on the right that has a smooth surface and describe how you would improve the pot by creating carved or built up area to create a textured surface.
In what way would this improve the look of the piece?

JIM McDOWELL - AFRICAN FACE JUGS

2012-01-31T11:34:00.001-05:00

READ THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT JIM McDOWELL AND AFRICAN FACE JUGS - AND RESPOND TO TWO OF THE FOLLOWING PROMPTS BY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10th AT 6:00 PM.

MAKE SURE YOUR NAME IS IN YOUR RESPONSE.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOUR RESPONSES ARE EACH AT LEAST 5 SENTENCES LONG AND ANSWER ALL THE BULLET-POINT QUESTIONS TO RECEIVE FULL CREDIT!

REMEMBER - THIS IS A HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT - DO NOT USE TEXT LANGUAGE – CHECK YOUR SPELLING, GRAMMAR AND USE PROPER CAPITALIZATION!!

History of the African- American Face Jug ~Jim McDowell

"Some many years ago while attending a gathering after a family funeral, I found myself intrigued by a conversation between my father and some elder family members. They were talking about something called face jugs and how they related to our family history.

This is the African-American face-jug oral history as it was passed down in my family, the McDowell-Poston family. My father, James T. McDowell, Sr., told me the story as he received it from his father, Boyce McDowell, who was a tombstone maker In Gaffney, South Carolina, and he got it from his father, my great-grandfather who lived during slavery times.

Slaves were not allowed to have tombstones, they said, so sometimes pottery or even a face jug served as their grave markers. My great-great-great-great Aunt Evangeline was a village slave potter in

Jamaica

. She made face jugs, too. The story handed down from Evangeline was that slaves placed personal items on their loved ones' graves along with face jugs. The ugly face on the jug evolved something like this: Slaves from Africa revered their ancestors and participated in ancestor honoring, or what we might call ancestor worship. African slaves were taken to the Caribbean to be acclimated and there they picked up the religion of voodoo.

Eventually ancestor worship, voodoo, and Christianity amalgamated into the tradition of the face jug. Many slaves who came to this country converted to Christianity and acquired a belief in the devil. They combined all their beliefs and came up with the ugly face jug. Apparently it had to be ugly enough to scare the devil away from your grave so your soul could go to heaven. When he was still living, my father gave me a face jug he acquired on a trip to

Jamaica

many decades ago. It is crudely made with rough features and I treasure it.

Some researchers from the Smithsonian contacted me once to see if I could add anything to their studies of face jugs. They told me of meeting an old black farmer in the South who took them out into a field believed to be a slave burial ground. He showed them shards of pottery and what looked like face jug remnants in the earth.

This topic has no written history, but the oral tradition in my family, along with other information I've gleaned, is my inspiration for the face jugs I create. I put a cigar in the mouths of some face jugs. Slaves were not allowed to smoke so the cigar signifies defiance, the man who does not consider himself a "boy," and of course delivers, symbolically, a strong epithet to the slaveholder. I remember all of these things when making a face jug. I add stained glass to some of the jugs so that when they are fired it streams down like tears.

When I started making face jugs about 15 years ago I heard about Slave Potter Dave from Edgefield, South Carolina, who could read and write and I was drawn to his story. Dave was owned by publishers of a newspaper. In the face of adversity and under the risk of severe punishment, this slave potter created jugs with rebellious sayings on them. Although there are no accounts that he ever made face jugs, I wanted to honor this courageous man and keep the tradition and spirit of Slave Potter Dave alive by writing messages on my jugs as Dave had done. I make face jugs to pay homage to my ancestors, those who survived the Middle Passage."

from http://www.blackpotter.com/

For examples by more face jug potters:

PROMPT #1

McDowell likes to quote Daniel Rhodes, also a potter: "Earth, water, fire - these are the ingredients of pots and human beings alike, and each formula contains an element of chance. Do not seek perfection in pots or people, for your search will be unrewarded, and you will miss knowing many good pots and good people."
In what ways do McDowell's pots reflect this quote?
How would you apply this quote to your life?

PROMPT #2

If you were going to make a face jug, what type of face would you put on the jug? Describe the expression.
What size would your jug be?
What type of textures would you use?
What colors would you use on your face jug?
Would you place quotes or sayings on your face jug? If so - what would you write?

PROMPT #3

Imagine that you were not allowed to mark the graves of the ones you love who have died with a tombstone for fear of severe punishment and that one of your only options was to create a face jug as a marker and to keep your loved ones' souls safe.
For whom would you create a face jug?
What would you inscribe on the face jug?
Would you keep the jug at the gravesite or would you eventually take it home? Why would you make this choice?

PROMPT #4

Some face jugs are created with a certain "primitive" look - the faces are not refined and often the features are exaggerated and relatively simple. These jugs are made to be similar to the traditional jugs of the untrained potters/sculptors of the past.
If you were going to create a face jug, would your jug be more contemporary/realistic or more primitive/traditional?
What features would you exaggerate? Why?
Imagine that you were going to create a jug that didn't scare away evil spirits - but instead was going to attract kind or good spirits - what would this type of jug look like?

Springfield High School Functional Ceramics Blog

TEXTURE

JIM McDOWELL - AFRICAN FACE JUGS