Artists who Inspire: Face Jug Potter Ben Watford
Every once in a great while, meeting someone can light a fire of inspiration in your soul. I am fortunate to have met and spent time with artist Ben Watford of New Bern, North Carolina, and he continues to inspire me daily as I admire his work in my studio.
Ben’s Former Studio
Earlier this year, Ben was photographed by Robert Dumon in his home studio. Ben’s home and his studio were lost to a house fire.
Ben’s humble demeanor and shy smile might bring to mind someone who prefers to stay planted firmly in the background. But to the contrary, Ben is both a scholar and a tireless preservationist, ensuring that centuries of African American cultural traditions are remembered through his oral histories and one-of-a-kind face jugs.
Ben at Crockett-Miller Slave Quarters
Passionate about sharing vital history, Ben educates visitors.
Ben is a changemaker who is relentless in his desire to always do more for those around him. After a learned life of teaching chemistry and raising a family, Ben observed the world and sought for meaningful change. He founded the James City Historical Society, is a founding leader of the African American Heritage and Cultural Center, and now serves as the chairman of the Crockett-Miller Slave Quarters in New Bern, a structure representative of the unadorned mid-nineteenth century slave housing.
In his community, when he realized that some individuals arrested for minor, non-violent offenses remained incarcerated because of the inability to pay cash bail, Ben joined forces with Craig Rosindale to launch the Craven County Community Bail Fund to reform pretrial justice and unequal outcomes based on wealth.
Ben’s Face Jugs
A glimpse into the former studio, with hundreds upon hundreds of Ben’s handmade face jugs.
The History of Carolina Face Jugs
Through his art and stories, Ben continues to educate and inspire. When I asked him about the origins of the face jugs, Ben explained that slave gravesites were forbidden to have markers. To scare off the evil spirits and allow their loved ones’ souls to rise to Heaven, family members would place ugly face jugs atop the graves.
As Ben shared in a previous interview with the North Carolina Museum of History, Ben “finds beauty in his ugly work.” True enough, the clay jugs he creates are sharply detailed with jagged teeth, exaggerated features, and often garish combinations of colored glazes. Imperfections, to Ben, add to the beauty of each piece.
When fire destroyed his home and studio, and soon after he lost his lifelong love and wife, Barbara, Ben called upon inner strength. He refused to let his personal circumstances keep him down for long, began immediately to rebuild his life with the help of loved ones and his community, and took to the garage of a temporary home to create a new workspace.
The Temporary Studio
Ben gave me a tour of his interim workspace, where new creations wait for firing with a kiln to be installed in his rebuilt studio. Ben has been collecting books to also replenish his personal library - more than 10,000 treasured volumes were lost in the fire.
At 90 years young, even after such devastating life losses this man’s incredible spirit could not be dampened. I was so moved by his story that I created a very special painting of Ben in his former studio to capture some of his personal legacy that was lost. It meant the world to me to create this for him, when he has spent so much of his life creating meaning for other people.
“In His Studio”
It gave me such great pleasure to present this painting to Ben.
Thank you, Ben, for the man you are and for all that you do for the world around you.
Ben is preparing for his June one-man show at Bank of the Arts in New Bern. As he told me last night at dinner, he’s going to keep on living for at least another 15 years. With a twinkle in his eye, he smiled and said,“I’ve just got too much to do.”
