For immediate release

‘Dave’ Pottery on Special Exhibition at New Folk Pottery Museum

25-GALLON JAR BY DAVID DRAKE (also known as Dave the Potter) Dave (as he signed his pots), the only slave potter about whom much is known, was born in 1800 and probably acquired his throwing skills from brothers Harvey and Reuben Drake, who bought the Pottersville Stoneware Manufactory and were the owners from whom Dave adopted his last name. In 1830, 7 years before South Carolina made it illegal to teach literacy to slaves, Dave worked at a newspaper, the Edgefield Hive, where he probably learned to read and write. By 1834, he was showing off his literacy by incising poetry in the damp clay of his pots. The one on this monumental 25-gallon jar reads, “The sun, moon and stars / in the west are plenty of bears” (possibly a veiled reference to the constellation Ursa Minor or the Little Dipper, known to slaves as the “drinking gourd” and used to point the way north on the Underground Railroad).

Two pottery pieces by Dave the Potter will be on special exhibition at the new Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia from its opening September 2, 2006, through August, 2007. Dave, who assumed the surname of his first master with Emancipation and became David Drake, is judged by folk art experts to be an outstanding artisan of the 19th century, so recognized in his lifetime for the quality of his work that his owners permitted him to sign the pottery he created.

One of the pieces, a 25-gallon jar, contains an inscription around its upper rim: “The sun the moon the stars – in the west are plenty of bears.” Inscriptions are not only a distinctive feature of Dave’s pottery, they illustrate he was one of the rare slaves who could read and write during a period when this type of education was illegal in South Carolina, where he lived and worked. Other special features of Dave’s work include unusually large pieces, glazing and handles.

These pottery pieces are on special loan to the Folk Pottery museum from Levon and Elmaise Register, Georgia collectors who have been acquiring Dave’s work for approximately 15 years, part of their extensive collection of 19th-century Edgefield, South Carolina, pottery. The loan was arranged by Dr. John Burrison, Curator of the Museum.

Opening to the public Saturday, September 2, the Folk Pottery Museum will be open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 pm. Check opening hours on major public holidays at www.folkpotterymuseum.com or (706) 878-3300. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children and seniors. The Museum is located at the Sautee Nacoochee Center, Georgia Highway 255, 4 miles southeast of Alpine Helen in the northeast Georgia mountains.

For more information about the museum call (706) 878-3300 or email cbrooks@snca.org

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