Rising Fawn Folk Art Presents
Georgia Blizzard

 See Her Works 

---

Georgia Blizzard with one of her pipes in hand, and one on the arm of the chair

Georgia Blizzard was an absolute one-of-a-kind! She was born in Saltville, Virginia May 17, 1919 (part Apache Indian, and part Irish), and her family moved to Plum Creek when she was a small child. She and her sister, May, played along the creek and were fascinated by the little chimneys that the crawdads built with clay from the stream bottom. They were too poor to have store-bought things, and so learned to use the clay to make their dolls, dishes, animals and other toys. Later Georgia learned to dig the clay out of stream banks and the interior of a nearby limestone cave.

During World War II Georgia worked in a Dupont munitions factory, and later in a Burlington textile mill. She got sick in 1958 and had to have a lung removed. To supplement the meager family income she and her sister, May, made indian relics. Finally, Georgia started to make her own pieces, providing her with a way to exorcise demons and miseries, and to hold conversations with herself.

Her mother taught Georgia to burn the clay to make it hard, as the Indians had done. Later she fired the pieces in a coal kiln, and still later she was given the gift of an electric kiln by Emory and Henry College. She used all sorts of glazing materials, and said, "I had the feel of the clay. When I think back to my childhood, I can get back to myself. It seems like you can create anything if you still have that childhood magic with you."

And Georgia certainly had that "childhood magic!" Her vessels are like nothing else. They are dark and painful, and they make you think at least twice about human despair.

When we lost Georgia Blizzard, we lost a treasure still to be fully discovered. When you look at her work, look closely.

See our collection of work by Georgia Blizzard