by Vernon Owens, 5.5" to 10.5" tall, ox blood slip glaze, signed, excellent......Vernon grew up working in Dad's shop, absorbing shapes from his father, M.L. Owens and his uncle Walter Owen, who worked at North State Pottery in Sanford. In the late 1950's, at the age of fifteen, he went to work also for C.C. Cole making as many as 200 small pieces a day. The economy was in hard times and a good product that sold was something to be proud of. While Vernon worked hard to make good pots, he did not think of himself as an artist.In 1960, John Mare, the new owner of Jugtown Pottery, hired Vernon as the Jugtown thrower. Here, Vernon was encouraged to hone the skills he had developed as a youngster. At first he dutifully copied the forms of early Jugtown pieces but that became a frustration and he began to let the old pots be an inspiration to develop his own forms. After Mare's sudden death in 1962, Owens leased the pottery and kept it going until 1968 when it was sold to Country Roads, Inc.Vernon continued at Jugtown Pottery through the ownership of Country Roads, Inc., a nonprofit corporation whose mission was the preservation of hand crafts. He worked closely with the director, Nancy Sweezy, learning glazing and business techniques. In 1983 Country Roads, Inc. moved on to another project and Vernon bought the pottery. He married potter Pam Lorette that same year. While Vernon sells the majority of his pots at Jugtown, they can occasionally be seen at gallery shows and in museums. The main influences in Vernon's pots come from the Moore County, NC pottery tradition, (the utilitarian wares such as jugs, pitchers and churns made in the 18 and 19th centuries), and the art pottery era which began around 1917, from which classical vases and bowls from Korea, China and Japan became the inspiration. Vernon received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award from the NC Arts Council in 1994. In 1996 he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Vernon received an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from North Carolina State University in December of 2000. He was also part of the Carolina Preserves project with artist William Mangum in 2000.