Charles Counts
1934 – 2000
See His Works
Charles Counts always knew what he wanted to do. As a child he dreamed of becoming an
artist. As a man the role of
artist-craftsman became his reality. He
once said, “Art is a disease. There is
no cure for it.”
Charles launched his career in 1959 when he opened a pottery
studio at Beaver Ridge, and several years later moved to Lookout
Mountain. He maintained a successful pottery business
there for 25 years. In the summer months
he held a pottery school and attracted students from all over the world. Charles’s works are instantly recognizable
motifs that represent nature. Stylized
trees, mountains, lakes, rivers and the sun can be found on his pots, as well
as in his murals, paintings, prints, drawings and quilts.
After a meeting with Michael Cardew, Counts felt a need to
see Africa. His
first visit was in 1972, and he was impressed.
People were making pottery, weaving baskets and building homes all in
the open. There was an intrinsic
relationship between the practical and the beautiful. When he discovered that Ahmadu
Bello University
needed a crafts teacher, Counts applied and was accepted. And so began a career of more than 20
years. Counts commuted, sometimes
teaching in Nigeria,
sometimes running a pottery studio in the United
States. By this time, he had changed the location of
his studio to Atlanta where he met
his future bride, Heidi Bak.
Named an American Craft Council Fellow in 1995, Counts was
also honored with the Georgia Governor’s Award in the Arts in 1973.
His work is in the collections of the High
Museum of Art,
Atlanta, GA,
the Greenville County Museum of Art,
Greenville,
SC, and the Columbia Museum of Art,
Columbia,
SC.
Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery, P. O. Box 286 Lookout Mtn., TN 37350
Phone: 706-398-2640 E-mail:
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