Emory's Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry and the Georgia Humanities Council present "Around the World in Eighty-Clays:  A Folk-Pottery Travelogue," a three-part lecture series presented by John Burrison, Regents Professor of English and director of folklore curriculum at Georgia State University.  The three lectures, held this month in a variety of locations, span worldwide traditions and explore a range of cultures.

The first lecture, "Asian, African, and Middle Eastern Pottery," will take place Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. at the Carlos Museum on the Emory University campus.

The second lecture, "European, including British Isles, Pottery," will be the following Thursday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m., and will be held at the Decatur Public Library Auditorium (215 Sycamore St. Decatur 30030).

The final lecture is "United States and Latin American Pottery, with Emphasis on the American South," and will be held Tuesday, Oct. 15, 7 p.m., in the Kennedy Theater of the Atlanta History Center (130 West Paces Ferry Rd. NW, Atlanta 30305).

All lectures begin with a reception, and are free and open to the public. 

Burrison became interested in pottery in 1968 when he met North Georgia folk potter Lanier Meaders, beginning a friendship that inspired two of Burrison’s books, "Brothers in Clay: The Story of Georgia Folk Pottery" (1983) and "From Mud to Jug: the Folk Potters and Pottery of Northeast Georgia" (2010). He is curator of the Atlanta History Museum’s Folklife Gallery and of the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia at Sautee Nacoochee. 

Visits to the British Isles, Germany and China have opened him to a global perspective on ceramic traditions, leading to this latest project, a lecture series drawn from his study collection of 18,000 digital images.

This series is co-sponsored with the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University; the Atlanta History Center; the Georgia Center for the Book; the Department of English, Georgia State University; and the Center for Creativity & Arts at Emory University.