Face Jug with Lumpy’s Teeth
Face Jug with Lumpy’s Teeth
Clay, paint, Lumpy’s teeth, copper and garter snaps
“Mr. Lumpkin, or “Lumpy,” was a police officer at Armstrong years ago. I had a studio on campus,and he startled me one day by knocking on my door and presenting me with his old windshield wiper and blade. “Got a new one and thought you might be able to use it in your art.” I did. Two weeks later he knocked again and presented me with something and again in a month he was standing at my studio door with a set of false teeth in his hands. “Got some new teeth, thought you might be able to use these.” I had them, for years and when I was asked to make face jugs for an exhibition they ended up in this piece - “Face Jug with Lumpy’s Teeth.
Thanks Lumpy
• 2008 •
From the Series
Famous People Face Jugs
George W. Bush with Pickle
George W. Bush with Pickle
Clay, paint, pickle. H: 18”
The war, or wars, were raging and I wanted to address something that was very serious in a ridiculous way— we were in a pickle and still are. I never fought in a war but I remember Vietnam, and it seems that nearly all wars excluding WWII should have never happened. I saw a bumper sticker the other day, “I am already against the next war.”
• 2006 •
From the series Famous People Face Jugs
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
A Papal Blessing: On a Fast Track to Sainthood
Clay, paint. H: 15”
A Papal Blessing
Parade Magazine
• 2005 •
Newsweek
April 11, 2005
This Newsweek cover was the inspiration for Famous People Face Jugs; Pope John Paul II. Linda told me not to do this piece but his image kept popping up and when the sculpture, offered by the Danbury Mint and pictured here, showed up in the Parade Magazine, that pretty much did it. Available in two convenient monthly installments of $37.50 plus shipping, that seemed cheap and this commercial offering gave me the encouragement and confidence to create Pope John Paul II as a Famous Person Face Jug. I didn’t intend to offend anyone, he is very famous, world renowned at the time and as my friend Keith said “On a Fast Track to Sainthood..” What could I do, so I did it. I may confess to something later, if I can figure out what to confess to….and don’t ever end a sentence with a preposition. That can get you in real trouble, especially in my house.
From the Series: Famous People Face Jugs
Barack Obama as a Face Jug
Barack Obama
“A New Spirit of Service”
44th President of the United States
• 2010 •
Profile
Presidential Seal
Barack Obama as Face Jug
On the back of
Barack Hussein Obama is an American Politician, an author and retired attorney who served as the 44th President of the United States from 2009 - 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African American president of the United States. He is the former senator fro Illinois, 2009 Nobel Peace Prize winner and graduated magna cum laude from the Harvard Law School in 1991. Also, he was the first Black editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review. His election and service to the country for 8 years were exemplary and opened the doors for others.
“Iraq: I am not opposed to all wars. I knew that even a successful war against Iraq would require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.”
From the Series titled Famous People Face Jugs
Rudolph Valentino Bostic as a Face Jug
• 2005 •
Self Portrait as a Pitcher, as a Little Devil
Wheel thrown, carved & wood fired
Around the year 2000, I read on the internet about a group of potters, who were going to construct a wood kiln, referred to as a Ground Hog kiln, in Brookhaven, Mississippi. This kiln would be similar to the type commonly used in the 1800’s & early 1900’s. I traveled to Brookhaven, worked for six days to help build the kiln, assisted in the initial firing, a process that involves using the equivalent of about 15 pickup trucks piled high with wood. The kiln was fired, burning the wood for about 30 hours with the temperature reaching 2400 F. Now, that is HOT.
• 1998 •
John Stoking the Groundhog kiln
With Dissent Collar
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
“The Notorious R.B.G.”
“Equal Pay”
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Famous People Face Jugs
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
1933 -2020
United States Supreme Court Justice
“RBG with Brain”
“Fight for the things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
• 2020 •
“To make life better for people less fortunate than you, that is what I feel a meaningful life is.”
Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Back
Born in Brooklyn, Bader was the second female to serve as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, 1993 - 2020. She was excellent in school and graduated first in her class at Cornell University. She was the first woman accepted into Harvard Law School, only one of 5 women out of 500 students, and transferred to Columbia Law School when her husband Martin developed cancer and received his treatment in New York City. She was tied for number 1 in her class at Columbia and said that she was not offered a position with a prominent Wall St. Law firm because of 3 reasons: 1) she was a woman; 2) she was Jewish and 3) the one that carried the most weight was that she had a 4 year old daughter. She received tenure in the law school at Rutgers but was told that her salary would be lower because Martin was doing so well financially with his law firm. She was the first woman to earn tenure aat the Columbia Law School. Nominated by President Bill Clinton for the Supreme Court in 1993, she was nominated with a vote of 96 -3, where she served until 2020.
In 1971 Bader taught seminars for the American Civil Liberties Union on Gender Discrimination.
But if you want to be a true professional, you will do something “Outside Yourself,” something that makes life better for people less fortunate.
I tell law students if you are going to be a lawyer and just practice your profession, you have a skill much like a plumber.
“Equal Work”
Kim Jung - un
Greenware
Kim Jung-un
Supreme Leader of North Korea
Kim Jung-un
A Cup Of Kim Jung-un
(For coffee, or tea)
• 2018 •
Glazed & Raku Fired
KimJung-un, born in1984, a four star general with supposedly no military experience is referred to as”Brilliant Comrade.” He is also refered to as the leader of the North Korean’s Worker Party and Eternal General Secretary. He is the second son of Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea from 1994 - 2011, now deceased.
Stacey Abrams
“Fair Fight”
Stacey Abrams
Stacey Abrams, born in 1973 in Madison, Wisconsin is an American politician, lawyer, voting rights advocate and Yale Law school graduate. She served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 -2017, serving as the Georgia House Minority Leader. She ran for Governor of Georgia in 2020 narrowly losing out to Brian Kemp, a Republican. An author, she has written 13 books including “How to Lead from the Outside and Make Real Change.
• 2020 •
Famous People Face Jugs
John Lewis: Good Trouble
John Lewis: Greenware
John Lewis: Heart & Brain
John Lewis: With Brain
John Lewis was born in Troy, Alabama, in 1940 - son of sharecroppers, he attended segregated schools and was encouraged by his parents not to challenge the inequities of Jim Crow. He was inspired by the courage of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King. He was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and in 1961 he participated in "The Freedom Rides" that challenged segregation. For this, he was beaten and arrested, an experience he would repeat often. In 1960/61 he participated in non-violent sit-ins at lunch counters and in 1963 he played a key role in the March on Washington giving a speech at age 22. In 1965, he led 600 protesters on a march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. Confronted by state troopers, deputies, and vigilantes on horseback when they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, they were violently beaten and arrested. Fifty of the protesters, including Lewis were hospitalized. The day became known as "Bloody Sunday." The governor of Alabama, George Wallace, told the policemen and deputized posse men to "take all measures necessary to keep it from happening."
These protests, among other things, led to President Lyndon Johnson's landmark Voting Rights Act. This helped to reduce disparities in voting between Blacks and Whites and allowed a greater number of African Americans to participate in local, state and national government.
"Courage"
Freedom Rides
James Chaney 21, Andrew Goodman 20 & Michael Schwerner 24
Lewis being beaten in Selma
Mug Shot
John Lewis
#13843
Nashville, TN, February 1962
American Civil Liberties Leader
Thousands of Protests
45 Arrests
33 Years in Congress
“Bloody Sunday”
• 2021 •
Stop the Lynching
George Floyd 46, Breonna Taylor 26,
& Ahmaud Arbery 25,
At the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge
Famous People Face Jugs
Donald J. Trump
45th President of the United States
“Mistaken”
• 2018 •
I thought I was apolitical, and I was until the world went to “Hell in a Handbasket,” whatever that means. Then I realized, at this time, it is imposssible to be apolitical, unless you are dead. This piece was inspired by the tumultuous political world we have been living in: full of chaos, anger and a complete lack of civility. I attended 12 years of Catholic school and Catholicism influenced this piece. The front panel, loosely influenced by the 14 stations of the cross featured Carly Fiorina, Pope Francis I and Ted Cruz — all people that President Trump Insulted. On the back is another panel, influenced by Madonna and Child featuring Ivanka Trump and her two children. Trump, referring to Ivanka said that perhaps if Ivanka weren’t my daughter I would be dating her.
There is a long history associated with Face Jugs — many were created more than 100 years ago by folk potters in the Appalachian Mountains. Basic components include a cover or opening, a handle and a spout to pour from - in this case a mouth. A number of years ago I was invited to be in an exhibition that featured face jugs. That is when I came up with the idea of doing Famous People Face Jugs. Some of my early ones include Pope John Paul II, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald J. Trump, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and John Lewis, among others.
Folk Face Jug with Fangs
Donald J. Trump: Levitating on a Mushroom
Bobblehead & Bobblebody
(And they both work)
This was going to be a Garden Gnome for my wife Linda. I started doing research and this gnome meditating popped up. Then, I saw images of Donald Trump and morphed the meditating gnome and Donald Trump.... into Donald J. Trump meditating on a mushroom. somehow meditating changed to levitating. Using a spring I elevated him about 1/2" above the mushroom..... a Bobblebody. What the heck, I got another spring and made him a Bobblehead. Lots of bobbling going on here. On his head is a gnome hat, one hundred dollar bills are in his right hand, dripping rubles in his left hand and under the mushroom is Gnome Vegetation: lichen, mushrooms and other grasses etc. Things that gnomes love. The title - Donald J. Trump: Levitating on a Mushroom is carved around the base.
• 2019 •
Titles:
Any Functioning Gnome
The Impeachment of a Gnome
“In My Self Defense, I Was Left Unsupervised”
• 2020 •
Not sure where I was going when I started this piece, one of my favorite ways to work … an act of faith. I began with the idea of using Donald Trump and a Gnome ….. again, what is wrong with me? Soon I was incorporating children’s toys and accoutrements into the piece. Pacifier, baby rattle, a spinning top, yellow duckies, etc. amd instead of a Blue Bird of Happiness emerging from his beard Donald J. Trump emerged. He is sitting on a mushroom that sprouted hundreds of colorful stems. The three titles are important , my favorite being…
“In My Self Defense, I was left Unsupervised”
The motorized sculpture revolves.
Donald J. Trump & Kim Jung Un
Two Gnomes Fooling Around with ICBM’S
When my good friend Todd Norris, an A.R.T. Practitioner Extraordinaire and an ardent supporter of Trump (I myself am not....clearly) visited my studio, he said "Why don't you do a sculpture of Trump sitting on top of Kim Jung Un?" Something I had never thought. That is where I get many of my best ideas, a quip made by someone visiting my studio. Replete with ICBM Gnome Hats, naked Trump is comfortably seated in a full lotus position on the back of Kim Jung Un as a flying tortoise with his "bottom" showing.
Linda said, "Do you have to show his bare bottom?" "Yep, that is what he is showing."
• 2020 •
Your Representatives in Washington D.C.
Around & Around, Up & Down & In and Out
“Out of the Box”
Alternative Title: Your Representatives in Washington D.C. Mr. Potato Head, Humpty Dumpty, Mickey Mouse and a Clown, among others. This piece is inspired by children's toys. While doing research I came upon "A Jack in the Box", and immediately saw it as a "Donald Out of the Box". This piece is a metaphor for the turmoil, or more rightfully "The Mess" we have created in D.C., the country and the rest of the world. Ooooo, that is negative, and I consider myself a positive person. But the lack of kindness, civility, willingness to work together for the common good plus the anger and hate as a result of this is disturbing, at best. I hope those children's toys can get us out of this - it is our best hope. It is not going to be politicians.
• 2021 •