Mark your calendars for the 13th Annual Face Jug Show! Opening right here on our website Wednesday May 7th at 11AM, you won’t want to miss our most popular show of the year! Join us as we dedicate the month of May to the weirdly wonderful face jug tradition. Not for the faint of heart, these culturally iconic vessels are often strange, sometimes spooky, and always full of personality.
13 potters will be featured in the 2025 Face Jug show, including:
Wayne Hewell • Mike Ball • Ben J. North • Michael Gates • Tim Whitten • Stacy Lambert • Walter Fleming • Steve Abee • Joel Huntley • Vicki Miller • Stephen Harrison • Brad Ledbetter • Feliciano Abaurre
The face jug began to appear in these parts in the very early 1800s. In those days, self-sufficiency ruled and handmade, locally-crafted clayware was common. Our regional soils contain all the elements needed to make hardy clay and our forests plenty of wood for the fueling of kilns. Over the years, popularity of these face vessels has waxed and waned, but the tradition has managed to survive and even thrive. Today, face jugs are an eagerly sought after & widely collected part of our mountain heritage. Wood-fired kilns remain the popular favorite, but there are some who experiment with gas- or electric-fired kilns, either for convenience, curiosity, or to achieve bright colors.
At the heart of our Annual Face Jug Show are traditional creators like legacy potter Wayne Hewell, a 5th generation farmer and face jug maker in the mountains of Georgia. Furtive sideways glances, cigars smoked all the way down to the end, corn-cob stoppers from his own farm, and twisting, pointed ears are the defining characteristics of Wayne’s work and lend a humor to his face jugs that is absolutely charming.
But what would a show celebrating the Face Jug be without variety? One of the greats in that department is local Asheville potter Mike Ball, who combines sacred geometric patterning with a unique and wonderful madness that is all his own. Mike’s creativity and sculptural abilities lead to some incredibly striking pieces, and compelled him to pioneer his infamous and much-collected eyeball jugs.
This year we also welcome a few new (to us) potters to our ranks: Feliciano Abaurre of Dallas, GA and Brad Ledbetter of Charleston, SC. It’s incredibly fun to add new face jug makers to the mix, who bring new perspectives and fresh sources of inspiration to a practice rooted in tradition.
The 13th Annual Face Jug Show will debut right on this page at 11 AM, Wednesday May 7th. For a full hour, the entire show will be available for previewing before phone sales begin promptly at noon. Remaining face jugs will be on view in the gallery from Friday, May 9th through Wednesday, May 28th, 2025
On Friday May 9th, an evening reception will be held in the gallery from 5-8PM. This event is free and open to the public; light refreshments will be provided. Whether you can visit the gallery in person or only online, please join us as we celebrate this storied pottery tradition at American Folk Art!