Abstract:
North Carolina has been one of the nation's leaders in the production of homemade pottery for more than two centuries. In Catawba Valley, only one pottery craftsman remains. Burlon B. Craig of Henry opens his kiln only three or four times a year, and collectors come from all over the country to buy his pieces. Five-gallon jugs that now sell for $20 once sold for only $.50. Craig still digs his own clay and refuses to use commercial glazes on his pottery. An entire chapter of the POTTERS OF THE CATAWBA VALLEY, published in 1980 by the Ceramic Circle of Charlotte, is devoted to Craig.