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Well, Meaders Pottery has been going on since 1892, a fellow who was—my great-grandfather

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started a business, and he started it in Cleveland, Georgia, his name was John Milton Meaders.

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And he saw a need and an opportunity to make some money, and North Georgia was a pretty

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impoverished area, especially during the Depression, and before that there wasn't a lot of money

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floating around.

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Now, when I come along, I was born in Mobile, Alabama, my dad was down there working civil

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service, and we had a pottery shop down there, and so that was my first exposure to pottery there.

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My generation of potters

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are now artists, whereas before they were people who supplied vessels for

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storing food or liquor.

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What I do, as far as a potter or artist or Southern folk artist, whatever I am, has become

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my life.

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Everything you do becomes a potter, and everything you say, and your circle of friends, and how

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people know you, and how you know yourself.

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There's sacrifices to be made in doing this for your entire income, but there's things

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that you can't get anywhere else.

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We've seen a lot of fads come and go, and a lot of great new ideas come and go, but

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the mere fact that we hold on to who we are, and I've been elected to carry that torch,

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is a good feeling.