Jimmy Hedges
Rising Fawn Folk Art Gallery
| Home |
| Jimmy Hedges |
| Artists Available |
| Contact Us |
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.