The Meaders Family of Folk Potters
The Meaders Pottery was started in 1892 by John M. Meaders in Mossy Creek, White County Georgia. Meaders built a log stucture and hired a potter to start the works and teach the trade to his six sons. All but one of the sons became potters, and one, Cheever, took over the original pottery in 1920. His wife Arie was a potter in her own right and specialized in applied decorations for Cheever’s pots as well as handbuilt animals and figures. Her work is signed AM and Cheever’s CM. She was also a talented textile artist.
The son Lanier was born in 1917 and worked in the family pottery business from his earliest day. Following a stint in the military during World War II and several odd jobs, Lanier settled into his pottery making business for good in 1966 (Cheever died in 1967) and worked at it until his death in 1998.
Lanier’s distinctive ash glaze face jugs are recognized as some of the most collectable southern pottery and are script signed “Lanier Meaders”. After his exposure at the Smithsonian Institution Festival of American Folklife in 1967, Lanier received a National Heritage Fellowship in 1983.
In addition to Lanier Meaders his brothers Edwin and Cleater continued working in their own potteries well into the late 1900′s.