Making its mark Mark of the Potter tallies 40 years BY JANE F. GARVEY There’s something special about Mark of the Potter when no one’s around, especially after the place has closed. You can come up on a clutch of fawns grazing placidly by the side of the road. You can see the trout milling about by the shores of the Soque River that flows by the gallery. Pronounced “sow-kwee,” the river gets its name (possibly) from “Sak-wi-Yi,” thought to be the name of a Cherokee village that may have been nearby and meaning “hill” in Cherokee. As the sun declines, there’s a shimmering light that filters through the leaves and dances across the water. Nature envelopes the site in a way that makes it suddenly one’s own private spot. But during the day, Mark of the Potter, just outside of Clarkesville on Highway 197 N., bustles with activity, as four staff potters specializing in handmade pottery—both utilitarian and artful—busy themselves with buyers and with production. Taking its name from a potter’s signature, the rambling warren of spaces and shelves houses not only their work but also objects, chiefly functional, by another 30 artists. When they finish browsing and shopping, visitors may step out onto a balcony, and for a quarter, fill their hands with trout feed to throw into the river below, and watch the pet trout dive for the food. Mark of the Potter supports its potters by purchasing their work outright, not taking it in on consignment, says staff potter Maraiah Wenn Collier. Her work features whimsical little animal figures, dinnerware and jugs, among other pieces.  | | Above, top: Three of the four house potters at Mark of the Potter include, from left, Matt Henderson, Maraiah Wenn Collier and Mary Towers Weese. (Not pictured is Mary Ann Lesterdiedrick.) Above: Henderson gives a pot-throwing demonstration. |
The art filling the tightly packed spaces in this former grist mill is not all ceramic: You’ll find jewelry and mouth-blown glass, for instance. And not all of it is art. There are locally made jams, jellies and honeys. And books, including a lovely pictorial book on Mark of the Potter, and the excellent “Something’s Cooking in the Mountains” cookbook, which has seen multiple editions and many printings since its first edition. To commemorate the 40th anniversary this year, Mark of the Potter will issue a special anniversary version of the cookbook. Mark of the Potter is, of course, a source for fine ceramic, but its history as a mill goes back to the first quarter of the 19th century, when Joseph Hill built a mill to produce cornmeal. That operation lasted 100 years, then the mill became the property of Allen Watts and his son Robert. Their enterprise included a dry goods store. It was during the Watts’ ownership when the trout, nibbling on the spilled cornmeal, began to gather at the spot, and Robert’s wife, Letie, decided to feed them. Today, they’re considered pets, and fishing at this spot is prohibited. From 1930, when the Watts family built a new mill on the foundations of the old, to the 1960s, when the Soque River flooded the place, the mill produced cornmeal and ground corn on contract for area farmers. Then in 1968, John and Glen LaRowe renovated the mill and claimed it as their home and pottery shop, opening the latter in 1969. The couple retired in 1985 and sold the shop to one of their potters, Jay Bucek and his wife, Janis. The LaRowes live today in a North Georgia community, where they designed a pottery studio for the residents and make pots occasionally for their own pleasure. Also retired, the Buceks live above Mark of the Potter.  | | Henderson’s large striped vase would embellish any decorating style. |
Among the 30-some artists whose work is for sale at the gallery, few have as longstanding a relationship with Mark of the Potter as Phil Mayhew of Tennessee. Mayhew has Georgia connections, however, having grown up in North Georgia and holding a bachelor of arts and a master in fine arts from the University of Georgia. His teaching career includes a stint at Brenau University (then Brenau College) in Gainesville. Starting the same year at Mark of the Potter, 1969, he taught at the college until 1973. And his wife, Terri, whose jewelry also sells at Mark of the Potter, was born in Macon. “I’ve been doing business with them 30 years or so,” Mayhew says of the outlet that he describes as “one of our largest buyers.” Now doing mostly porcelain, Mayhew in 1986 moved up to Tennessee, where he summered as a child, and opened Beersheba Porcelain in a restored antebellum structure that houses the couple’s studio and gallery as well as residence. Right behind Mayhew in terms of length of association with Mark of the Potter is Columbus native Will Langford. He now works at a Danielsville studio whose name he is changing from Shiloh Pottery to Langford Pottery. Langford attended the University of Georgia in the early 1970s and studied ceramic with Jerry Chappelle, who later founded Happy Valley Pottery near Watkinsville. Langford chiefly does production pottery, “things to use,” he says, adding, “I like the way things feel in your hands.” His body of work focuses on food and drink-related pottery—mugs, bowls, casserole dishes, all stoneware, which is very high-fired pottery. It was in the 1970s when he began to sell at Mark of the Potter, he recalls. “It’s no surprise that they’re still so successful, because he [LaRowe] built that thing with his heart. Both of them did,” he adds, also referring to Glen LaRowe. “But they had the technical expertise to back it up.” Langford appreciates the way Mark of the Potter, through both its owners, has been supportive of potters. “Back in the ’70s when I was first selling up there, they would offer suggestions and do mentoring. And that still goes on with all the potters who work there,” he says. Mentoring is the role that resident potter Matthew Henderson, a Texas native, has at Mark of the Potter. With degrees from University of North Texas and North Texas State University, where Jay Bucek also studied, Henderson has done two stints with Mark of the Potter, the first during 1987-88. But he didn’t know Bucek until the latter returned to his alma mater to find a potter, and that’s when the two teamed up. After that first year, Henderson taught in Michigan, which he found inhospitably chilly, and returned to Mark of the Potter in 1993. He’s also an adjunct professor of pottery at North Georgia College and State University in Dahlonega. What draws Henderson to Mark of the Potter is “being able to make pots and do my own design and just be creative,” he says appreciatively. “Residencies usually prescribe what you’re going to make, so that’s pretty unusual. Mark of the Potter doesn’t do that at all.” Besides Henderson, three other potters participate in the regular staffing of the gallery: Mary Ann Lesterdiedrick, Maraiah Wenn Collier and Mary Towers Weese. They show and share their work, including Lesterdiedrick’s small pieces, such as tiny bud vases, and Weese’s dinnerware and wine baskets. The artists rotate duties at the shop, giving demonstrations and interacting with customers. Aided by a trio of committed assistants, Gail Lee has been the manager for a dozen years. Still small in staff and warm in spirit, Mark of the Potter has endured when many other craft shops, as John LaRowe notes, have come and gone. With this kind of dedication and commitment, Mark of the Potter should go on for another 40 years at least. —Freelance writer Jane F. Garvey writes about a variety of subjects from her base in Decatur. |
