The Piedmont

Vernon Owens
Potter and owner of Jugtown Pottery

"I like to work quietly, in silence, with one or two people. I never liked a disagreement. The most important thing in my life is this: grow up to respect other people. If you are doing a job, do it in a decent way. If you cannot, then say you cannot. Some mornings, I go down to make pots and I am not in the right mood to make pots. So I will knock off and do something else: a mechanical job or spending time in our museum looking at pots.When I make a piece of pottery and someone is happy and appreciates it...well, that gives me true satisfaction."

Vernon Owens is carrying on his family's tradition of making pottery at Jugtown, one of the original pottery shops around Seagrove, NC. Along with his wife, Pam, and children, he creates the distinctive Jugtown style of pot, using the clay, the glazes and the methods that haven't changed much since his grandfather's day.