Clay Day Part One: Billy and Linda Green

Last Saturday folk art potters Billy and Linda Green had a sale of their recent work and my wife, my son, and I were lucky enough to attend. The Greens only live about 20 minutes from my home but I had never been to one of their firings or sales. They live in an area of Spartanburg that was a hotbed of ceramic activity during the 1800’s and up until about 1940. I was told that Billy Green picked up pottery from his neighbor Billy Henson years ago and recently Linda picked up the habit from her husband.

We didn’t know exactly what to expect when we arrived. We had been told that it would be a lottery style sale where everyone would be allowed to draw a number at 10:00am. The people with the lowest numbers get the first picks of the work and they continue through all the numbers until everyone has had a chance to choose. When all numbers have been called it turns into a free-for-all and everyone is allowed to choose among the pottery that is left. Having been to many art related events I half expected the scene to into Wal-Mart a couple of weeks before Christmas complete with pushing and shoving and swearing.

Instead we found the friendliest group of people in the state. As we arrived and walked directly into the Green’s backyard, I felt completely at home. Behind their house there were several outbuildings and a few tables set up and loaded down with pots. People were milling around and chatting while making mental lists of their favorite pieces. There were plows and tractors and chickens and it was wonderful. Complete strangers came up and talked with us as if they’d known us all our lives as everyone came together over this shared interest. My friend Paul was there from Columbia and after we let the kids check out the roosters he introduced me to Linda and she told me a little about some of her favorite pieces and her interests in making pottery. A little while later Billy and I talked about dogs while we waited for the sale to begin. A person would be hard pressed to find any pair of people nicer and more genuine than Billy and Linda.

My luck had me draw a number in the 50’s and when Linda asked who had the highest number I found out that only one person was lucky enough to draw a higher number than mine. And in a very classy move, Linda awarded the man with the highest number a very cool pot with a large flower glazed on it. Missed it by one. When the selecting began it moved quickly and everyone seemed thoroughly pleased with their choices. This was likely due to the fact that there were so many quality pieces to choose from. Most of the work was by Linda and in addition to the regular jugs and pitchers she had several more sculptural pieces she had turned into elephants, people, and pigs. Of course there were face jugs too and while those carried on the tradition of the face jug, these had their own style and individual charm. Very much like Billy and Linda themselves.