Facing History Exhibition Opening
Join us for First Friday in Downtown Manteo and come out to the opening of the exhibition, Facing History by North Carolina potter Ben A. Watford and view a collection of his face jugs, functional pottery, and dragon vases. Throwing his work on the wheel, then hand building the faces, dragons, and other attachments, these vessels became a way of marking what could not otherwise be marked and remembering those whose histories were too often denied. Watford carries this legacy forward through his own creative interpretations.
History:
These particular face jugs emerged in the Carolinas during the era of slavery. Enslaved people were denied many of the customary ways of honoring and marking the graves of their loved ones. In response, potters in the Edgefield region of South Carolina began creating face jugs to be placed at their graveside. Passed down through generations by oral history, the art form carried stories of ancestors and remembrance. Watford describes the often frightening faces as part of a practice intended to protect the graves of the dead with faces made “ugly enough” to scare away the devil and protect them on their journey to heaven.
