Pottery Day at The Museum of East Tennessee History

KNOXVILLE -- If you have an old piece of pottery that you found at a yard sale or auction or it was passed down in your family, you can learn more about it on "Pottery Day" September 17 at The Museum of East Tennessee History.

The museum is presenting a workshop to provide information about pots and the potters who made them. The theme of the workshop is "Tennessee Pottery: Basic and Beautiful," held in conjunction with the exhibition Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900 on view at the museum through October 30. The guest curator for the exhibition is Carole Carpenter Wahler, an authority on Southern pottery and the foremost authority on East Tennessee pottery.

From 9:30-10:30 a.m., the public is invited to bring in pottery pieces, images of pots or potters, or other related items for documentation and identification by local pottery experts.

At 10:30 a.m., Carole Wahler will lead a gallery tour of the Tennessee Turned exhibition.

At 1:00 p.m., Samuel D. Smith, recently retired Historic Archeologist for the State of Tennessee, will be speaking about "An Overview of Tennessee's Historic Period Potteries: 1790s-1950s." His presentation will be followed at 1:45 by Stephen T. Rogers, Historic Preservation Supervisor for the State of Tennessee, who will speak about "Tennessee Pottery and the Stories They Tell," in which Rogers will discuss the pottery project with Smith, the potters they identified, their stories, and the close-knit bonds of the extended pottery families, and the traditions handed down through the families for several generations.

At 2:30 p.m. John Case of Case Antiques Inc. Auctions and Appraisals will give a presentation called "Beyond Functional" where he will discuss the esthetics of earthenware pots that appear to be made more for decoration instead of utilitarian use.

"Pottery Day" is free and open to the public from 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Reservations are not needed. For more information, call 865-215-8824 or see www.eastTNhistory.org. The exhibition and program are sponsored by Home Federal Bank.

The exhibition Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900 portrays how, from early settlement, East Tennesseans have enjoyed a strong tradition of fine craftsmanship. This is especially true of the region's nineteenth century potters, who over time moved beyond mere utility to create functional works of art. Upper East Tennessee, especially Greene County, figures prominently in the region's pottery story.

The exhibition Tennessee Turned: Earthenware and Stoneware Made in East Tennessee 1800-1900 is a once-in-a-lifetime grouping of more than 200 pieces of distinctive pieces of regional pottery.

Guest curator for the exhibition is Carole Carpenter Wahler, a noted authority on Southern pottery and the foremost authority for Tennessee. "East Tennessee's earliest potters were generally of German or English ancestry," says Wahler, explaining that after 1800 these two pottery traditions combined with other cultural influences to result in a distinctive regional pottery that can be identified today. "This pottery, of which we are justifiably proud, provides a unique link in the continuum of the American potting tradition as it spread across the United States."

The Museum of East Tennessee History is operated by the East Tennessee Historical Society and is located in the East Tennessee History Center at 601 South Gay Street in downtown Knoxville across from the Tennessee Theatre. For more information, call 865-215-8824 or see www.eastTNhistory.org.

Published September 9, 2011