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fine art INTERVIEW WITH
Maggie Jones
DENNIS RAY
apid River Magazine: Tell us a
from what most potters in this area are doing. We make all size vases, umbrella stands and large floor pots, mirror frames, food-safe decorative tureens and more. All hand decorated with sculptural details.
Maggie Jones: Since the early 80’s
RRM: Turtle Island Pottery is
Co-owner of Turtle Island Pottery
R
INTERVIEWED BY
little about the artwork you do.
we have produced a functional line of pottery decorated with a white glaze, blue flowers, dragonflies, and green and yellow accents. Made to be used, it has been very popular and we still produce it today. About the year 2000 I began to notice antique art pottery and began to produce more decorative and sculptural work…still based on function and inspired by nature. The work on the website shows these images. The forms and motifs are largely influenced by early Art Nouveau, which began in Eastern Europe middle 1800’s, and the Arts and Crafts movement which was during the early 1900’s. A lot of Asheville architecture is in the Arts and Crafts movement style. Because of these designs and the altering of forms that I do, the work is very different
yourself and your husband Freeman. Do you each have separate duties in creating the art or are there separate pieces by you both?
MJ: Generally, Freeman does the
wheel work, starting the basic forms, and I do the sculptural Face Pitcher, one gallon in size. Inspired by details, altering, handles, lids, English Toby jugs and Martin Brothers pottery from etc. I also do the glazing. Freethe late 1800’s. Stoneware clay. man loads the kilns and most of the maintenance. Freeman also comes up with a lot of the ideas for themes, There are so many especially the humorous ones. Our daughdifferent things that can ter, Molly, has been making her version of be done with clay. the southern folk art face jug for over 10 years now. That line is under our studio name. Again, the humorous themes usually come from her and Freeman. RRM: How did you first get into pottery?
Twisted Gourd, 10" tall. Wheel thrown then altered, stretched, pinched and pulled in stages. Stoneware clay.
MJ: Art has always been my passion. In
elementary school I was drawing animals at the request of friends. In 9th grade I had an art teacher who knew the potter’s wheel, so I began then. I knew at that time I wanted to go into the crafts and create functional items. My father set up space in the basement at home and we learned together. By the time I graduated from high school I was proficient enough at the potter’s wheel for an apprenticeship. I was a full time apprentice for over a year, then set up my own studio. I went to a lot of workshops in the 70’s, and was a special student with Paul Soldner at Scripps College in California in 1984. Freeman played with clay in his childhood, finding it in creek banks. He grew up in Etowah, NC, and at that time there were brick factories and red and white clay instead of golf courses. He also did a work study in college where he loaded kilns, mixed clay, etc., for the ceramic department there.
RRM: Your work is at times elegant and deli-
cate, at others whimsical and charming. Why do you think your work is so broad?
MJ: I just have too many ideas. There are so
many different things that can be done with clay. It is the most versatile of all the craft mediums. Also, with Freeman and Molly’s ideas it gets pretty crowded!
RRM: You tend to work very close with colors. When you first think of a piece, when it is still just in your mind’s eye, does color play a part or does the color come to you from the finished piece itself?
MJ: Usually form first and color comes as
I work on it. I use a wide variety of glaze sources. My own recipes, some commercially prepared glazes, and some are locally found minerals. I like a full spectrum of color and texture.
RRM: When do you find yourself most cre-
ative and what about that time of day do you think makes it so?
MJ: No consistency there, any time anywhere. No two are alike.
RRM: Have you ever sold a piece that you
Turtle Island Pottery
MJ: Yes. We do have a collection of pieces
Maggie and Freeman Jones 2782 Bat Cave Rd., Old Fort 28762
wished you should have kept for yourself? we have kept and I have pieces from workshops and the different locations I have worked dating back to 1968. They are housed in our showroom in Old Fort. 22 December 2012 — RAPID RIVER ARTS & CULTURE MAGAZINE — Vol. 16, No. 4
Tomato Jar, 8x8, stoneware clay.
Home/Studio: Call first (828) 669-2713 Old Fort Showroom... Most Saturdays (828) 337-0992