Smithsonian accepts Vale potter

Click here to see Albert Hodge work on and talk about one of his many face jugs.

Potter Albert Hodge only laughs a little when he suggests he was reincarnated.

His fingers took to clay so quickly after 25 years of working in a furniture factory, the 67-year-old Newton native can't help but wonder how he stifled the potter's soul for decades. Nine months after he bought his first pottery wheel, somewhere around 1987, he was turning, glazing and firing face jugs and other detailed pieces full time.

The first time he took his jugs to a flea market, he sold out faster than his wife could buy an egg sandwich for breakfast. The next week, people were calling and asking for more.

In September, the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., accepted one of Hodge's horned, scaly, serpent-draped face jugs. Museum spokeswoman Mandy Young said the museum is now working on getting the piece into its collection.

Hodge, who examined all of the pieces while he was in D.C., said he is the only surviving North Carolina potter with a face jug in the museum.

When he tells the story, punctuated with his gritty laugh, he sounds as much like the cloth cutter he used to be as the artist he's become.

"Me and another potter, we're the only ones living," he said. "It's not a good list to be on. They must think my diabetes is worse than it is."

Ann Oppenhimer, president of The Folk Art Society of America, presented the Smithsonian with Hodge's jug, calling it "a spectacular and beautiful example of his work.

"It will certainly more than hold its own with the other pieces of folk art pottery in the Smithsonian's collection," she said.

The society nominated Hodge for a place in the museum. That's the only way to get such a prestigious spot, he said. He got his work in the Hickory Museum of Art and Charlotte's Mint Museum by donating it. He also is the only potter you'll find in Colonial Williamsburg.

A true folk artist, Hodge taught himself all he knows about making pottery, from the firing technique to the glazes. He said he was the first to do "all this crazy stuff" like wrapping snakes around his faces and carving scales into them.

"I tried to make them as cranky as I could," he said.

It worked. His pieces have become considerably collectible, perhaps because he doesn't go to shows or hold big sales. People have to find their way to his shop on N.C. 10 in Vale to buy his work. Many do.

He said Helen Hunt's manager once bought almost everything on his shelves. Hodge counts the Hearst family among his customers, too. The family matriarch wore silk shoes into his clay-spattered shop, he said, shaking his head.

This week, the clutter in his workshop and his anything-but-pretentious showroom includes a sheet of paper printed from eBay. It's one of Hodge's smaller jugs. He sold it for $135. A few months later, it went for $700.

The plain wood shelves in the back of his shop are lined with the cantankerous faces that are Hodge's signature. The three clay Obamas he made sold within a day of going up. He's had some fun, too, with stylized cats, dogs, blue-eyed wig stands, men riding pigs or elephants, snakes and roosters, including one with a true red glaze that seems to blaze against the muted browns and greens.

The red glaze costs around $100 a gallon, partly because it includes real gold, Hodge said. He came up with the recipe on his own, just like the one for a vivid blue. He woke up at 4 in the morning with that one on his mind. Hodge also made his own "tobacco spit" blue, named for the streaks it leaves on a piece of pottery.

In the beginning, Hodge made 20 pieces a week. These days, with the pain in his feet slowing him down, he turns out closer to 10.

He doesn't plan on stopping.

"I'll be making pottery until I'm 90 if I'm able," he said.

Hodge has a lot of time to make up for.