What, me sentimental?

I made this pair of \"matching\" devil mini jugs back in May of 2007. I started pushing and poking at clay in September of that year, so these are pretty early pots. Indeed, these are hand built pots. I made these by rolling out thick blobs of clay, cutting them to size, hollowing them out, adding the spout, placing a bottom on \'em, then facing them. Much more involved than simply turning the mud on a wheel. Of course, I didn\'t have a wheel... I was buying 5-10 pounds of red clay from the local craft center, bringing it home and jugging it, then carting the raw things back to the craft center to fire. The owner of the center stopped me one day and told me he wanted to start having Craft Center Art Shows. He asked if I would be interested in being the featured artist to their first show. Giddy with flattery, I agreed. I made these devils as a pair to sell for the show. They and all but ONE of my jugs did not sell. I still can\'t believe I kept at it! Below is a photo of the two jugs and some promotional postcards I made to hang up in local businesses. The postcards are included in the sale.

I have always been a HUGE fan of the Meaders family pots. I flatter myself to say that I can see how I was really drawing on elements of some of those venerable potters. The teeth are shards of a coffee cup I took a hammer to. The larger of the jugs is 4\" tall. The smaller jug is 2.5\" tall. Only the smaller jug is marked on the bottom. Inscribed is \"JASON MAHLKE 5-07.\" I have no idea why I didn\'t sign the other one.

I\'m throwing in the postcard I made and tried to post all over town. I\'m also including the first \"business\" card I ever tried to make. I thought people might want to know what the heck these were supposed to be.

I am a high school English teacher. For the past few years I have had my twelfth graders work on a project in the last quarter where they have to teach themselves something new--a new skill? Hobby? Trade? The sky is the limit. This year I decided I would share with them something that I taught myself about six years ago--pottery. I made a 60 second video on YouTube showing how I turn that glob of goo into a face jug.

A year or so ago I was contacted by writer/director Chad Crawford Kinkle, who had just won Slamdance\'s top prize for best horror script, to make around 20 face jugs for his film. The film is currently scaring the pants off of viewers in festivals here and abroad. News is that it was just picked up by a distributor, so start looking for it around July. I included a still and a shot of the new poster to show my pots acting their scariest.

To see more, please check out my website. Google: theyankeepotter.

Thanks for looking.Who made this?
My name is Jason Mahlke, and I am a self taught potter. I turn the pots in my basement, create thefaces at my kitchen table, and fire them in my garage. I admire theSouthern potters like the Meaders and Hewell families. Their pottery always features such solid,graceful forms with crude but expressive faces. But I am also drawn to thesophisticated and lifelike looks of some of Wallace Martin\'s face jugsand grotesques. I think I\'m beginning to get close to capturing thatsort of impossible balance. I mainly use Georgia clay because of its heavy grog. This gives the jars the sandy texture that you would find inthe Southern stoneware. I make jugs, jars, coffee cups, salt & pepper holders...pretty much anything that can serve as some sort of container.