Meaders Family: North Georgia Potters

Abstract

The Meaderses are among the very few remaining folk potters in the United States-perhaps even the most traditional in both practice and outlook. Thus it is difficult not to be astonished by their pottery at first encounter, for only a few hours' drive separates it from downtown Atlanta, Georgia. This separation, however, as we have seen, is one of time as well as space. Because of the Meaderses' adherence to nineteenth-century ways, we tend to elevate them to the status of “folk artists.” For the most part, however, their work is not a personal expression of some deep inner urging as, say, the apocalyptic images of the visionary painter, but rather a sturdy craft with utility, not artistry, in mind. Further, we view people like the Meaderses as somehow immune to change, content to let events in the world at large pass them by. Indeed, we embrace the quilter, chairmaker, or potter precisely because of his or her disinclination to “keep up with the times.” And yet even this is something of an illusion. As indicated throughout this monograph, the Meaderses have been buffeted by social and economic forces beyond their controlling. For example, in some ways the present success of the youngest Meaders, Lanier, completes a circle, inasmuch as it is principally a new clientele of folk-art collectors that encourages him to work in mostly traditional forms. The Meaderses at times seem bothered by the inordinate attention paid them. They are happy that success has its financial rewards, but recognize its disadvantages as well. In a recent interview, Lanier confided to one researcher: …I just don't want to have to put up with the notoriety&excl; People have always come and bothered me right at the most inopportune time. I've wondered if everybody in the world is that way. When I go to sit down to eat, then somebody comes and starts rapping on the door. People come hunting this place and hunting me. I'm getting to where I don't know him 'meaning himself': “Well 'I tell them', he's up there someplace …”4 Byrd, Joan Falconer. <i>A Conversion with Lanier Meaders</i> 'exhibition catalog'. (Cullowhee, N.C.: Western Carolina University, 1980). Lanier has a quality present in many residents of the Old South-a kind of laconic view of the world that combines both humor and introspection. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to ascertain his true feelings about those who visit him. That he does profit in some measure by such experiences seems clear, as he told one of the authors, “There are kinds of people out there I never even knew were out there.” In conclusion, it is fortunate that a family like the Meaderses still practices its endangered craft, for it affords the opportunity to study folk artisans and their activities in the workplace without having to rely exclusively on historical documents, oral accounts, and artifacts to reconstruct such events. Our especial attention to ethnographic context has been in part a response to those researchers whose point of departure has been the object, leaving the maker obscured and unimportant. While much can be learned from the scientific collection and organization of artifacts, we believe that it is not only important but paramount to restore the craftsman to his rightful place in the process.