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SUNSET MOUNTAIN POTTERY |
Sunset Mountain Pottery flourished between 1929 and 1935. Headed by J.B. Cole in Steeds, North Carolina, it provided much of the pottery that was later marketed by The Three Mountaineers and The Treasure Chest. Involved in the operation was Wayman Cole, J.B. Cole's son, Nell Cole Graves, J.B. Cole's daughter, Philmore Graves, Nell's husband, and Bascome King. In the early 1920's immediately following World War I, there was a great desire and interest in the pottery market for a return to more traditional methods of creation, as well as more traditional styles. Sunset Mountain Pottery, under J.B. Cole, produced prototypical "mountain pottery," as it came to be marketed, more than 200 miles east of the mountains. However, Cole and Sunset Mountain Pottery simultaneously marketed to the emerging Art Deco style; instead of utilitarian pieces that were designed primarily for functionality, they began to branch out into more "art" ware type pieces, brightly colored and abstract. Despite Sunset Pottery's changing style, and simultaneous adaptation to both emerging and traditional themes in pottery, they always marketed their pottery as "mountain pottery." It was often described as "hand turned on an old-fashioned pottery wheel," or "ware with the sunset tints of the Land of the Sky." Since we now know that such pottery was produced nowhere near the mountains, the emphasis on traditional "mountain pottery" must have been intentional; the success of Sunset Mountain Pottery through The Three Mountaineer and The Treasure Chest indicate the marketing value of "mountain pottery" was high. Indeed, these companies expanded to include showings in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and New York, as early as 1929. B.P. |