North Carolina Newspapers

Page TWELVE THE PILOT—Southern Pines, North Carolina THURSDAY, MARCH 8^ 1962 'Stir Up The Fire-1'II Tell You The Jugtown Story' (Written for the student publication at the School of Design, N. C. State College, several years ago. Mr. Faulk, of Southern Pines, is an archi tect with Hayes-Howell and Associates.:} By JOHN FOSTER FAULK “She died and they laid her out in a homemade pine box. Of course all the clan gathered. A burying in these backwoods was a social event. They clustered si lently around the small Circle of light from the single kerosene lamp. Their silence was not from sorrow; they were trying to think of a verse to be scratched on her headstone. It was really a task because she hadn’t been very bright and she hadn’t been at all moral. She had never been known to put a foot inside the church, so the usual ‘Asleep in Jesus’ ' didn’t seem appropriate. Finally one of the elders broke the si lence. ‘Well, she weren’t sech a bad un, I reck’n she done the best she knowed how.’ So onto her headstone, a large jug with a clos ed top, went this unconscious tribute, ‘She done the best she knowed how.’ That’s the epitaph I want used on my headstone, you know, I mesin it really is.” Juliana Busbee was holding court in her living room. The en tire room was colored a soft am ber by the light which filtered through the bright orange cur tains. “They’re quilt linings, you know, found it at a country store for a song, told the man he was selling it too cheap but he insist ed, and it does seem so indige nous.” She sat alone on the sofa by the window (so that she could see if anyone came), her hooded falcon eyes watchful. She was doing what she liked best now, giving audience to friends and friends Of friends, telling us the Jugtown Story—adding another peg to the living myth-structure. She sat there like a portrait of an ageless Parisienne painted by Manet. But the background must have been by an artist of a differ ent "school. Her studied hand- loomed clothing was a paradox to her fragility. Her sophistication seemed incongruous in this log cabin room with its pine plank floor and mud chinked walls. Had the stage hands put up the wrong set, an early American cabin in stead of a sidewalk cafe? The many tiers of books and the pro fusion of objects d’art added a final anachronism to the stage. “You don’t know the story of Jugtown? Well, stir up the fire and I’ll tell it to you. That’s really a wonderful fireplace, you know, draws like a charm,'always has. Mr. Busbee designed it and su pervised its building himself. He was an artist but he knew about many things.” It was in 1915 that Jacques Bus bee, a Raleigh artist, and his wife Juliana Royster Busbee found a bright orange pottery deep pie- plate at a country fair. The plate excited them immensely—not only by its brilliant color, but also by its crude artistry. Mr. Busbee and Juliana were painting por traits and illustrating at the time but they were vitally interested in handicraft. “You see,” Juliana told us, “we believed that ‘art is not an esoier- ic utterance but a democratic ex pression’ and that from folk art truly understood and expressed, fine art springs.” At that time, Juliana was Chairman of Art of the State Federation of Women’s Clubs and in her programs, instead of stress ing fine arts she tried to develop the crafts. When speaking to and meeting with other club women about the state, she had an excel lent opportunity to see what was being done with crafts. Pottery making was probably the most underveloped of all. Mr. Busbee and Juliana believed that an in jection of art into the country pottery would rejuvinate in the state an age-old industry. Bui though they tried desperately, no interest could be aroused in this moribund craft. No one wanted to undertake the project, so they de cided to do it themselves. In an isolated section of North Carolina, in a remote spot in Moore County identified by the natives as “the dark corner,” they discovered Jugtown. Although there was never an actual town, this area was a center of pottery making in North Carolina’s pre prohibition days. There were pe- haps 50 or 60 potteries in the fif teen-mile stretch between Rob bins and Seagrove. ' “Robbins, you know,” Juliana interposed, “is the town which used to be Hemp before the name was changed to-match that of its new’lord. The argument over changing the name really tore the ‘own apart. They almost had a shooting feud, I mean they really did. Families were all split up, old friends wouldn’t even speak to each other when they met on the street, and at church the Rob binsites sat on one side and the Hemp-stprs on the other. They asked me to attend one of the meetings at which they were ar guing over the changing. One of our prominent legislators was droning on about why the name should be changed. ‘After all,” he said, ‘what’s hemp? Nothing but rope. Something to make a hang man’s noose of.’ I just stood right up and said, ‘I’m shocked to learn that a man of your very obvious secondary education doesn’t know that “Hemp” come from an old Scottish word meaning homeplace. Rope, indeed! It grieves me to hear you air your ignorance in public.’ But back to Jugtown.” When North Carolina voted prohibition on herself many of the potter’s wheels were stilled. Without the jug market there was little profit, for in ratio to the dozen churns or crocks, the pot ter sold a thousand or more jugs. These craftsmen were forced to discard the trade of their fore bears. They broke contact with the outside world and withdrew into a cocoon woven of ignorance, superstition and distrust of out siders. Had anyone stopped at one of these potteries then, and asked for jugtown he would have been directed vaguely “thataway- down the road a piece.” No one would admit openly that his pot tery was of the Jugtown commu- AT POTTERY—In this recent photo, Mrs. Juliana Busbee who died last Friday (see front page story) is pictured at the Jugtown pottery founded and operated by her and her husband, the late Jacques Busbee. On either side of the doorway to the pottery’s chinked log show room, in the background, can be seen examples of “Jugtown ware.” (V. Nicholson photo) nity for the term had acquired connotations of hidden stills and liquor jugs. When the Busbees first went to the “dark corner” in 1917 they found a community of craftsmen living independently of the out side world. The people made their own furniture, cloth, shoes and “dirt dishes.” The churns, crocks and other utilitarian pieces which to potter turned differed very lit tle from those of the 1740’s when the first Staffordshire potters set tled in this section. The Busbee- scoured the countryside in search of pieces which were signed and dated. Several went back to the mid-Eighteenth Century. In their search, they were directed to a man known as ol’ Joe Shuffle. Im agine the surprise of finding that his name was actually Josiah Wedgewood Sheffield! From the information gathered from property sales, land grants and family Bibles, they were able to establish the genealogy of the potters and from the pottery, the tradition of the locale. Although much of the pottery was not very interesting, its forms were much more subtle and refined than that in the rest of the state and the bright orange color was joyous and different. They heard the old tales of trips in covered wag ons to peddle the pottery and to barter it for things which were not produced locally. They heard of the conscription of the potters during the War Between the States and how they worked un der guard to turn medicine jars for dispensaries, bowls and mugs for the hospitals, and even tele graph insulators instead of being sent to the front to fight. In the burying grounds they found jug headstones like the one Juliana told us about. Of course, these have all been replaced now by “store-boughten” granite mark ers. lana When we first came here,” Jul- continued, “my husband NOTICE The Board Of County Commissioners Will Sit As A Board Of Equalization And Review On Mon day, March 19,1962, Ten O’Clock, For The Fol lowing Townships: Carthage Township Bensalem Township Sheffield Township Ritter Township Deep River Township Greenwood Township Little River Township This Notice Applies To NEW CONSTRUCTION And NEW IMPROVEMENTS Listed For The First Time As Of January 1,1962. Moore County Tax Supervisor. Estelle T. Wicker, ‘ M 8-15 thought he could help the potters not only with his art knowledge, but also by acljng as a liaison agent for them through his con tacts with the outside world. But they were suspicious of him be cause he was an outsider and dif- 'erent from themselves. They were certain that he was a Ger man, for one man said he “seen one onct at High Point.” Another -’eclared he was “one of them Swedens.” As Juliana quoted the natives, she lapsed from her nat ural speech into their vernacular. ‘They would never believe that we were native born and bred North Carolinians, and they never will. Why, we were both Raleighites and some of my fond est memories are of my childhood there. When I was quite small, my mother gave us children a subscription to the London Times and L’lllustration for Christmas, instead of the usual toys, since she couldn’t afford both. Al though I was too small to gather much from reading them, I think I got more pleasure from them than any of the other children did. I would go to school and boast, ‘At my house, we take for eign publications. We read the London Times to get the real news, and we only read the News and Observer for the local hap penings.’ ” (These same issues may now be perused in the gar den house at Jugtown, along with Punch and Gourmet.) “Those first years here at Jug town were pioneer days for us. But we believed that imagination is a frontier and that always 1;here will be pioneers where there are' courage, strength, and a will to dare.” The Busbees had the name “Jugtown Ware” registered, em ployed local potters, and launch ed their new industry. They changed worlds — completely Using the pieces of pottery col lected, Mr. Busbee trained the potters to reproduce the wares made by their ancestors. By changing a curve or line slightly, he edited what had been purely functional and often clumsy wares, making them objects of in terest and beauty. As soon as the magazines and newspapers be gan to give coverage to the Jug town venture, the old potters and their progeny became fired with enthusiasm and potters’ shons sprang up like mushrooms. Some of them were supplied with capi tal and have become handicraft factories.” Of course, all the pot ters began to claim that they were Jugtown. And every potter in the state swore that his ancestry was of Staffordshire. One even said that he was “homed” there. Now, all along our highways are little potter shops, the “stop and see it made” type, where a man makes his pottery assisted by his wife and children. Production is inex pensive because wood is the fuel used. And .the bright cheap glazes always attract the tourist trade. We left the house and went down to watch Ben Owens throw. His dexterity in turning on his primitive kick-wheel never ceases to amaze. It is really an experience to watch a pot grow under his touch. As we watched Ben, Juliana explained to , us that they had attempted to keep the pottery in the tradition of the set tlement. “The shop could have been here for 150 years. Just the other day, two women came and wanted to see the ‘pot’ry.’ After oooohing and aaahing over the ancient buildings, they asked ‘Could you tell us about how long these cab ins have been here?’ ‘I can tell you exactly,’ I answered. ‘Twen ty-five years.’ The technique we use is the same as that of the pre- Revolutionary potter. We have no modern short cuts, for we are in no hurry. It is not how much can be turned out in a day’s work, but how beautiful. It sounds imbecilic, but we don’t even know how many pieces are in a kiln. All of the pottery is fired in this old groundhog kiln—no saggers and no cones, just an open fire.” With the encouragement of Tif fany Studios, the first decorative pieces were turned at Jugtown. When they departed from the util itarian things, Mr. Busbee select ed for form the early Chinese, whom he considered to be the Old Masters of the potter’s wheel. It is in these translations that Jac ques’s artistry is especially evi dent. Every shape has authority. Although Jacques’s was the hand that guided the wheel it is to Jul iana that Jugtown owes its wide spread popularity, It is she who has given it its aura of drama, it is she who has supplied the stage setting. “My husband,” Juliana remin isced, “felt that handicraft should be lovingly,' sparingly done, and that it should never be drudgery. Up until his death in May, 1947, he worked assiduously trying to fully understand and express folk art. When he died he left the uni versal heritage of his art to his native state, for he was first and always a citizen of North Caro lina. “Well, that’s about all there is to the Jugtown story, for you see, since Mr. Busbee’s death I’ve just stayed on here, ‘doing the best I knowed how.’ ” West Point Graduates To Dine at Fort Bragg 'The annual Founders Day din ner for graduates of the United States‘Military Academy at West Point will be held Friday, March 23 at 7 p. m. in the Lafayette Room of the Fort Bragg Officers Open Mess, according to ,an an nouncement by Col. Alfred Kirk du Moulin, chairman of the din ner committee. Officers and others desiuing ad ditional information pertaining to the dinner may contact either Lt. Col. T. M. Rienzi at Fort Bragg Ext. 60100 or Capt. Ellietson B. Rogers at Fort Bragg Ext. 5-9833. In the summer, three outdoor dramas relate different chapters of history in the mountain and costal vacationlands. They are “Unto These Hills’, the Cherokee drama; “The Lost Colony”, at Manteo on Roanoke Island, and “Horn In The West” at Boone in the Blue Ridge. Summer theatres of the indoor variety have spread from the Piedmont, with summer stock companies established at Tangle- wood Park near Winston-Salem, and at Charlotte, largest city in North Carolina. The mountain theatres are at Flat Rock, Black Mountain and Burnsville. Frigidaire 2-Speed, 2-Cycle Washer at a Budget Price! K Custom DeLuxo Modal WCDA42 • 2 speeds, 2 cycles! Tailors washing to the fabric! Choice of wash water temperatures! • Patented 3-Ring "Pump” Agitator bathes deep dirt out without beating ... for a sparkling clean wash! a Automatic dispensing of laundry aids! • Two fresh water Lint-Away rinses float lint away nuiv QK automatically! Ask about the Frigidaire 15-year Lifetime Test! easy terms F-RiaiDAIRE ri*f>DucT OF oeNeftAu motors Burney Hardware Co. South Street Aberdeen, N. C. 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