Rising Fawn Folk Art Presents
Jerry Brown

 See His Works 

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Jerry in Pottery Shop

Jerry Brown has the distinction of being the ninth generation of his family to make Southern stoneware pottery. He was born September 10, 19142, and recalls, "My brother and I were making small pieces back before we started first grade."

In 1964 his father retired and gave his equipment to his sons. A year later his father died and fourteen months after that his brother was killed in a car accident. Then most of his equipment was stolen. Jerry turned to logging with mules for a living and cut sawmill timber for almost 20 years before he returned to what his family does best.

Five Gallon Face Jug with Face Jug Lid

Traditional in every sense, Brown digs his own blue clay from a 100-year-old pit. Like his father, Brown still uses a mule to power his clay mill because he clearly enjoys it. He believes his is the only mule-drawn mill still in operation. Blue, a dun-colored tobacco-chewing mule, is an integral part of the operation.

In 1985 Brown showed his pieces for the first time at the Kentucky Arts & Crafts Festival near Tuscaloosa. He does a variety of bizarre human faces on his face jugs, some with beards, devil faces with horns, some with lizards or snakes crawling across them.

Brown was the subject of a 1990 Public Broadcasting network film produced by the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and is one of 13 awardees of the National Endowment on the Arts 1991 National Heritage Fellowship for folk art.

See our collection of work by Jerry Brown