Charles Counts (Kentucky, 1934-2000) Civil Rights inspired art pottery lidded jar, with allover incised decoration including figures being doused by a fireman’s water hose, a dog barking at a figure and other figures with raised hands and shouting. Incised inscription around the shoulder reads “Lift Up Our Voices Against The Mob”. Additionally incised on the base “Charles Counts/Rising Fawn/Georgia/1963”. 13 3/4″ H. Charles Counts (1934 – 2000) was inspired to create this piece by the Birmingham Race Riots of 1963. The Kentucky born potter, designer, textile artist, and quilter was also a social activist, as well as a writer and teacher who worked to preserve the art forms of his native Appalachia. Counts attended Berea College in Kentucky and earned a master’s degree in pottery and weaving at Southern Illinois University in 1957. He then studied under Bauhaus-trained master potter, Marguerite Wildenhain in California and also did advanced work in ceramic technology at the University of Southern California under Carlton Ball and Susan Peterson. Counts established a pottery studio with his wife Rubynelle in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1959, before moving to Lookout Mountain, Georgia in 1963. His Georgia studio was called The Pottery Shop at Rising Fawn. The Counts helped form the Designer-Craftsmen of the Southern Appalachians, and were prominent members of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild. They later moved to Nigeria where Charles taught at the University of Maiduguri until his death. Private Chattanooga, TN collection. Condition: Excellent condition. Protective felt pads added to rim and base.