In the eorly yeors of Eulota Amos's tenure os o professor in the

University of Georgio s department of ott, her colLeogues included, omong

others, Lomar Dodd, Ferdinond Warren, Howord Thomas, ond Horold

Westcott. Women were d decided minoity in those days, ond Amos could not

hove been but impressed by the occompLishments of this group ond others

who come to the depoftment, os she did, ot the behest of its choirmon,

Lamor Dodd. Yet Amos wos hordly in the shadow of these men. While o grad-

uate student ot )hio Stote University, she had oLreody deveLoped on innova-

tive process for attaching o siLver gLoze to ceronics. Quietly, but with o great

deaL of ossurance, she pefected the technique lnd built up o considerobLe

body of work, oLl the whiLe teoching ond seruing os a model for her students.

Yet, becouse she chose to devote herself to teoching rather thon

to pubLicizing her own work, her career has been negLected in ort-histoicol

literature. This exhibition ond brochure lre 0n ottempt to set the record

stroight, or dt tedst to give our oudiences some idea of the totent ond the

oiginoLity of this remarkobLe woman.

Ija Thurlow, the curotor for this exhibition, is o student in the

Museum Studies Progrom ot the Georgia ltluseum of Art; in this way,

Professor Amos has continued to teach in spite of hoving been retired fromthe University of Georgio for mony years. Ms. ThurLow hos been in chorge ofail aspects of this exhibition ond, much to her delight, this responsibility hos

included working directly with the aftist in prepoing the checkList for the

exhibition. She hos olso hod the good fortune to hove the assistonce ofProfessor Betty Sheerer, now retired from the Home Economics Depaftment ofthe University of Georgia. We ore also groteful to the pivote lenders to the

exhibition: Mr. C. L. l4oreheod Jr. and Michael ond l|ary Erlanger. They have

entrusted us with pized possessiont because Amos's works hove not been

dispersed wideLy in pivote coLlections. We oppreciote the JinancioL support ofJack ond Jefie Rowlond, who once ogain prove their devotion to the ort ond

ortists of Athens ond we ocknowLedge the generous contibution of the

Richard A. Florsheim Aft Fund. Finalty, we ore most groteful to Eulolo Amos

herseLf for continuing to inspire us with the depth of her commitment to her

ort and for the LoveLiness of the works thot she has produced.

Wittiam U. Eiland

Director

Georgia Museum o/Art@

Eul.ata Amos, 1996

THESE ARE THE THOUGHTS OF A POTTER

whose work has been an integraL part of her

Life since she discovered the medium almost

fifty years ago. Amos sti[[ uses most of her

pottery in her Large house with its beautiful

garden in Winterville, Georgia. The bowls hold

food, the vases hold flowers, and the [anterns

tight up the porch. During her twenty-five

years as a potter and ceramics teacher, Amos

created hundreds of works, and she secured

her ptace in the history of twentieth-century

ceramics by discovering a unique siLver gtaz-

ing technique.

The art of pottery runs in Amos's

famity. Her Pennsylvania Dutch ancestor, John

Leidy, made pottery untiI the onset of the

Revolutionary War forced him to stop. He

refused to fight because of his reLigious

beliefs, but he heLped the coLonists as a

German transtator. 0ne of his pots is currently

in the collection of the PhiLadetphia Museum

of Art.

Born in Fredericktown, 0hio, on

May 29, 1.907, Eu[a[a Amos attended AshLand

College and began a teaching career immedi-

ately thereafter. She taught at CoLumbia

School in Mount Vernon, 0hio, from 1927 to

1938 and served as its principaL from 1938 to

1943. She also taught art at Mount Vernon

High Schoot from 1943 until7944. MeanwhiLe,

she attended Ohio State University and

worked on a B. S. in education.

A chance visit to the art depart-

ment at 0hio State completety changed her

direction in tife. She saw the ceramics studio

and immediately decided to become a potter.

Amos, not knowing then about the grants

avai[abte to artists, soLd a[[ her possessions-

including her car-in order to purchase the

materials she would need. During Amos's

senior year of undergraduate work, Lamar

Dodd, a professor of art at the University of

Georgia, wrote to one of her teachers asking

for a ceramics instructor, and Amos was rec-

ommended. Dodd was interested in havinq her

teach at the University of Georgia, but she

wanted to stay at 0hio State. She received

her undergraduate degree in 1945 and began

teaching while working on her maste/s

degree in ceramics. During the summer of

1945 Amos taught ceramics at the University

of Georgia and so impressed Dodd that he

sent her letters every Christmas asking when

she woutd return to Georgia as a permanent

facutty member. She received her M. S. in

ceramics in 1947 and continued teaching at

Ohio State.

Three teachers at 0hio State

inspired her work: Pau[ Bogatay, Arthur

Baggs, and Edgar Littlefietd. Litttefield was

the first person to encourage her interest in

pottery. Bogatay to[d Amos, a senior at the

time, about a piece of pottery from Denmark

that had siLver inlay in ceramic g[aze. She

tried to reproduce the effect by welding siLver

to the pottery, but it did not adhere properly.

Soon after, a visit to the dentist for a fiLling

provided the solution she needed: she rea[-

ized that, if the dentist cou[d fiL[ her tooth

with silver, she could filt pottery with silver

in the same manner. Amos rushed out of the

dentist's office to buy some ama[gam with sit-

ver in it. She dritted holes in a pot to fiLl with

the si[ver, creating the inLay effect she had

been trying to achieve. Arthur Baggs said that

it was worth a master's thesis, so she did the

coursework, wrote the thesis, and earned her

master/s degree from 0hio State.

The silver inLay can be seen on

many of Amos's works. For examp[e, the smaLL

white bowl with two siLver feathers in the

bottom (Checklist No. 30) shows how a detaiL

can compLeteLy change the character of a

work. The two feathers, the most striking fea-

tures of the bow[, draw the viewer's gaze

immediatety to the inside. The bowl would

sti[[ be a wetl-formed work of pottery without

the siLver because of its smooth white gtaze

and perfect round form, but it woutd lack the

character that the feathers give it. 0n her

[arge btue ptate with the fish design

(Checktist No. 29), Amos uses sitver inLay to

create an elaborate composition. The fish is

outlined with siLver, and the surrounding

water patterns are highLighted with sitver

detaiLs. The blue alkatine glaze gives the fish

a watery setting.

In 1949 Amos surprised Dodd by

accepting his invitation to teach at the

University of Georgia. She began as an assis-

tant professor, became an associate professor

in 1956, and a fu[[ professor in 1966, teach-

ing ceramics, crafts, and art education untiI

her retirement as professor emeritus of art in

1970. During her career her work was inctuded

in severaI important exhibitions, including

the Art League Shows in Columbus, 0hio, and

the Butler Art Show in Youngstown, Ohio.

She showed work in the Fiber, Cloy, and Metol

exhibition series in St. PauL, Minnesota. Later

she participated in the DecoroLive

Arts-Ceromics exhibitions in Wichita, Kansas.

By this time she was weLlknown and partic-

ipated in invitationa[s at Corne[[ University

and the Smithsonian. She atso exhibited in

the Ceromic Nationot Exhibition in Syracuse,

NewYork. Amos won the Purchase Prize of

the St. Pau[ GaLLery in St. PauL as weLL. As her

career diew to a close, she received the

"Woman of the Year in Art" award for

Athens/Ctarke Qoi:nty, Georgia, in 1963.

ThroLighout her career Amos

experimented with several different clays and

glazes. The three main categories of pottery

are earthenware, fired at [ow temperatures;

stoneware, fired at high temperatures; and

porcelain, a speciaL white clav fired at high

temperatures. She worked in atl three types

but believed that porcelain was the most

difficutt to controL. Amos preferred to use ' .

stoneware: she couLd controL it better than

porcelain, and so make more decisions about

the final appearance of the work. The preva-

Lence of stoneware in this exhibition attests

to her love for the medium. She does not

have a favorite gLaze, though she enjoyed

working with iron. She says that she tried to

"fit the glaze to the pot." The fish pLate,

with its watery bLue gtaze, illustrates her

carefuI p[anning.

Amos also thin.ks that potters

shouLd not try to achieve the tefinement that

such related media as glasswork and oiL

painting achieve because pottery does not

ca[[ for it. "Pottery shoutd be earthy," Amos

says, "thafs where it comes from."

Perfection does not necessariLy mean a com-

pLeteLy smooth piece or an exact replica of a

classic form. A rough work with a good form

and a compLementary gLaze can be just as

pleasing as the most delicatety painted

porcelain. Many of Amos's works are rough to

the touch, such as her lantern (Checklist No.

31) or her taLL vase (Checklist No. 24). They

remind the viewer that they are made of

ctay, and thus reca[[ the naturaI world from

which they came and to which they wiLL

eventua[[y return.

The Lantern's form emulates the

structure of Chinese and Japanese temp[es: itis vertica[[y rectangular and its base and top

extend beyond the main rectangLe. The deco-

ration on the top resembles bones and

[eaves, and is simiLar to decorations irEastern temp[es. Amos has an extensive col-

lection of Asian arl, and here she shows its

influence upon her work. She does not, how-

evei .relinquish her own style: the roughness

of the work gives it an earthiness, and the

holes in iis.surface attest to the potter's skilt

because they ie.em to be natural formations.

fhe dihcing anthropomorphic

forms painted on the ta[[...vase show Amos's

interest in nature. The white dnimals create

a stark contrast to the brown clay, simiLar to

below: Checkli\t Nunbet 21

prehistoric cave paintings.

Amos wishes that more people

were going into ceramics, but "then there

wouLd just be more starving artistsl" Her

favorite work was atways the one she had just

finished. However, one of her best-Loved

works is the jug that bears the inscription

stating the relation of clay and fire to Life

(Checktist No. 34.) This jug speaks for the

entire medium and, most eLoquently, of

Amos's love of her art.

Irja J. Thurlow

Museum Studies Program

Georgia Museum ofArt

Note: ALL quatotians are fron an interview of the artistby the author,0ctober 1996.

Lantern,19695to newa re

14 1/2 jnches high

Vase,1953Sto newa re

10 1/2 inches high

Vase,19685to neware18 1/2 inches high

Low bowl, 19645to n ewa re

4 3/4 inches diameter

Low bowt,1953Earthe nwa re

6 inches diameter

Talt bowt, 1968Stonewa re

6 3/4 inches high

Vase, n.d.5to fewa re

5 1/4 inches long

Vase,1965Stoneware6 inches diameter

Low bowt,1963Stoneware6 1/4 jnches djameter

Ptate,1961Stoneware9 1/4 jnches diameter

Low bowt,1966Stoneware5 1/4 jnches long

Tatl bowt, 1963Stoneware6 1/4 inches high

Vase,1963Stonewa re4 1/4 inches long

Low bowl, 1964Sto newa re

4 inches diameter

Vase,19705to n ewa re

5 1/2 jnches djameter

Jug with tid,1965Stoneware5 1/4 inches djameter

Vase,1968Sto neware4 1/4 inches Long

Vase, 1945 35.Stoneware with satt glaze

3 3/4 inches high

Low bowt, 1969 36.Stonewa re

5 3/4 inches djameter

Vase, 1968 37.Sto n ewa re

8 inches diameter

Bowt, :1951 38.Ea rthenwa re

12 inches diameter

Tatl bowt,1946Stoneware wjth satt glaze 39.6 1/2 inches high

Vase,1967Sto newa re

13 1/2 inches hjgh 40.

Tat[ vase. 1969Sto n ewa re

11 1/2 lnches high

Box for ftowers, 1963S to newa re

7'r.res lorg

Vase,:19575to newa re

4 1/2 inches high

Vase,196B5to newa re

4 1/2 inches hiqh

Vase,1945Sto fewa re

4 inches high

Fjsh p[ate with sitver jntay, 1946Earthenware with atkatine btue giaze

25 1/2 inches diameter

BowI with silver feathers, 1946Po rcetai n

6 inches diameter

Lantern,1968Stoneware14 jnches high

Vase,1968Sto newa re

9 1/4 inches high

Vase,1969Sto newa re

8 3/4 inches high

Vase,1969Sto newa re

12 3/4 inches hjgh

Vase,1945Porcelajn wjth copper-red glaze

3 3/4 inches hjgh

Low bowt,1968Sto newa re

5 1/2 inches high

Vase,1970Sto neware6 1/2 inches hjgh

Spindleshanks, 1969Sto newa re

10 inches highColtection of MjchaeL and Mary Erlanger

Large bowt,1961Earthenware12 1/2 jnches diameterColtection of C. L. Morehead Jr.

Vase,1967Sto newa re

5 1/4 inches hjgh

26

.h.ve: (hP.klirt Ntnlhat t1

Performi.ng and Visuol Arts Comp

This exhibition benefits from the generous support of the Richard A.

Florsheim Art Fund and from the contributions of Director's Circle

members Jack and Jeffie Rowland. PartiaI support for the exhibi- t,

tions and programs for the Georgia Museum of Art is provid-

ed by the Georgia CounciI for tl-e Arts through appropria-

il

tions of the Georgia General Assembly and the NationaL iii

Endowment for the Arts. A portion of the museum's

generaI operating support for this year has been pro- :

vided through the Institute of Museum and Library

Services, a federal agency that offers general oper-

ating support to the nation's museums. Individuals,

foundations, and corporations provide additiona[ \

support through their gifts to the University of

Georgia Foundation.

The Georgio Museum of Art's hours ore 10 0,m. to 5 p.n. \

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursdoy, ond"soturday;10 0.m. to g

p,m. on Friday; ond 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Lex

ohove: CheckList Number 30 .

above right: Checklist Number 2'i\-.