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Visiting Marvin Bailey's Pottery Shop
Every so often I get the chance to get away for a day or two. This past week my wife and I went to Greenville, South Carolina. She was attending a conference and left me with two days of my own goof-off time.
The very first thing I did was drive another two hours east of Greenville to Lancaster, South Carolina to meet up with Marvin Bailey at his shop. Those of you who are interested exclusively in Georgia folk pottery may have not heard much about him. In my opinion, he is one of the most skilled and interesting potters working today.
When I walked in, Marvin was finishing up a group of swirled clay pots and jugs. He had added a white clay to the Lizella clay he normally works with and the mixture had given the jugs and almost candy cane swirl appearance. Marvin showed me around the shop and several projects he had recently completed. One of the most impressive was a five gallon Edgefield style pot finished in an alkaline glaze and glass runs off of the handles.
We went back to the shop and he showed me how he turns these in two separate pieces and then carefully joins them together before finishing the piece. Historically, these type of Edgefiled pots were used to store any number of food products and have a bulbous, almost onion like shape to them. It was amazing to watch these two pieces come together and form the traditional Edgefield shape. In time, this pot will be glazed with Marvin's own alkaline glaze recipe and a small amount of glass and cobalt will be placed on the handles just before burning. The glass and cobalt will give the pot a striking decorative color along the sides.
Of course, no trip to a pottery shop is complete without bringing something home with you. In my case it was one of Marvin's gigantic face jugs. This particular one was finished off identically as the Edgefield pot I had mentioned above, cobalt runs and all. He'll join my first Bailey piece, a devil face jug with four candelabras coming out of his head I picked up at last year's Homer, Georgia show.
One of the most enjoyable parts about being a potter is visiting with and learning from other (far more highly skilled) potters. Marvin was a great host and generously indulged all my questions. I've enjoyed seeing his work at shows and becoming friends with him. Marvin Bailey is an amazing potter and an all around great guy to know.
Pictures, top down, Marvin Bailey forming an Edgefield pot from two seperat pieces. Bottom, a small sample of other Marvin Bailey pieces
