Face Jugs by Jim McDowell
Click on pages numbered 1-5 above for more face jugs
# 12
Title: Via Della Pace
Size: 10" tall, 9" circumference
Inscriptions: GIVE US FREE
HILLARY OR OBAMA
PEACE
The first inscription is a line from the film Amistad.
Wood fired for three days in an anagama kiln in March 2008; glaze is Hovland fake ash. Heavy beard, eye decorations, and pierced ears.
I like to think of him as symbolic of all religions. The colors in these photos are true. The title translates as Road of Peace.
Price: 750
# 14
Title: Help
Size: 8 1/2 " tall, 17" circumference
Inscription: HELP
Woodfired for three days in an anagama kiln; buttermilk glaze with wood ash markings. Toothless and startling.
Price: 500
# 15
Title: Br'er Rabbi
Size: 10 1/2" tall, 20 1/4" circumference
Inscriptions: WE WILL BE FREE
DO GOOD ALWAYS PEACEThis piece was woodfired for three days in an anagama kiln; bottom of the jug is glazed with Hovland's fake ash; the top is glazed with red ash; teeth made of broken china.
Photos are very true to coloration.
This piece was on display at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in 2008, as part of the show,
"A Face Only a Mother Could Love."
Price: 750
# 16
Title: Homiletics
Size: 9 3/4" tall, 20" circumference
Inscriptions: FREE MY PEOPLE
VOTE YOUR CHOICEThis piece was woodfired in an anagama kiln for three days. The glaze is celedon and it has gorgeous golden markings from the fire ashes. His teeth are broken china.
When I looked at this jug after firing it, I thought he looked like me when I studied Homeletics.
This jug was part of the show, "A Face Only a Mother Could Love," at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, in 2008.
Price: 850
#122
Title: Burdens Down, Lawd
Size: 11"tall 18.5" circumference
Inscriptions: FREE MY PEOPLE NOW
STOP THIS WAR
Description: Red glass streams down like blood on this gas fired piece glazed with Cornwall Stone; also some splashes of rutile blue glaze; textured beard, five china teeth, ropey lips, and a double-ridged base.
Price: 700
#146
Title: I Been Through the Fire
Size: 9.5" tall 16" circumference
Inscriptions: FREE MY PEOPLE NOW
HAVE FAITH IN JESUS
Description: I fired this jug in a wood kiln at Indiana University of PA and used what the students made and call "garbage can glaze." They put all the dregs of leftover glaze in a can and mix them up. You never know what you're going to get, that surprise element that potters love. He's very rustic and natural looking in a matte finish. The kiln also gave me a surprse on this jug with lovely ash buildup and markings on the front and some on the back.
S-shaped eye formation, scarification, three china teeth, a little beard, and a pipe. He smoke and therefore does not consider himself a "boy."
Price: 750
#114
Title: The Wisdom of Ol' Solomon
Size: 9 1/2" tall 20" circumference
Inscriptions: MISS HARRIET IS HERE
LISTEN MORE TALK LESS
Description: This pot fired in a gas kiln; the intense heat at the top of the pot caused a crackle effect in the two serpents encircling the head. With a white shino glaze and brown glass "tears" streaming down the face, this jug's entire head is textured, marked, and splattered. He smokes a cigar, indicating he does not think of himself as a "boy."
Price: 700
#300
Title: The Watchman
Size: 12" tall; 20" circumference
Inscription: Free My People Now
Description: With a cowrie shell crown of eight shells, The Watchman has a distinguished presence. He is watching and remembering and has some sadness in his face.
He has wideset eyes, deep scars, a long nose, ropey lips, no teeth, and a curly beard.
His colors of ivory, pink, red, brown, charcoal, and orange come from a Malcolm Davis glaze along with wood firing in a nogorabama kiln for three days.
Price: 850
#301
Title: A Righteous Judge
Size: 21 1/2" tall, 23 1/2" circumference
Inscriptions: FREE MY PEOPLE NOW
LOVE IS THE KEY TO LIFE
Description: This large face jug tells us about names and labeling. I want to say stop calling each other names. I want to say that words hurt, to difuse the power behind the words. In addition to the inscriptions I wrote some of the names we have used to hurt: raghead, paleface, boy, tarbaby, nigger, hunky, wop, coon, spic, tobob.
This jug has an elongated spout, scarification, deepset "watching" eyes, large ears, a wide mouth with ropey lips and nine teeth, heavy jowels, a full beard, and a faceted base.
The glaze on this jug is called carbon trapping shino. The jug picked up effects from its soda firing, fired in a soda kiln for 20 hours.
Price: 950
#302
Title: The Griot
Size: 10.5" tall, 23" circumference
Inscriptions: FOLLOW DAT STAR
LED US FREE
PLANT A GARDEN CUT OFF TV
READ MORE BOOKS
Description: The Griot, or African teacher, encourages us to do better and learn a few things.
The jug's three open cowrie shells are filled with red glass and create blood drips. The jug has scars coming from the inside of the eyes, a hereditary mark from a royal family. Other characteristics include scarification, a bumpy nose, ropey lips, five teeth, a small rough beard and a moustache.
The glaze is a gray shino that acquired green and tan shades after its firing in a wood burning kiln for five days.
Price: 800
#303
Title: Ise a Riverboat Cap'n
Size: 10.5" tall; 20" circumference
Inscription: Richard Smallwood Took Dat Riverboat and Family to Freedom
Descriptions: This jug reminds us of the story of Richard Smallwood, a slave who stole a riverboat during the Civil War, got all his family and friends, over 30 people n board, and took it to the Union side and freedom.
He has four scars under each eye, a long nose, large ropey lips, no teeth, a full beard and moustache.
The glaze is carbon trapping shino that acquired shades of green and charcoal when I fired it in a wood burning kiln for three days.
Price: 750
#304
Title: Astronomy and Almanacs
Size: 9.5" tall; 22" circumference
Inscription: Benjamin Bannaker laid out DC when the white folks quit
Known for his knowledge of almanacs and astronomy, this jug pays tribute to the man who redrew the designs from memory of Washington D.C. This jug has a powerful look with an entire face of heavy scarification. In addition to glass "tears, sweat, and blood," he has a big distinguished nose, two cowrie shell rosettes, large ropey lips, three teeth, and a cigar that notes, "I am a man, not a boy."
The glaze is carbon trapped shino which acquired shades of tan, red, green, and gray when I fired it in a wood burning kiln for three days.
Price: 800
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Continue to scroll down the page for more face jugs.
