This episode starts with Mike returning to the table, where Matt has pulled together a group of rare folk art, pottery, baskets, quilts, and objects from the gallery before they ship out to new collections. Some of these pieces may not come back around for decades, so Matt wanted to get them on camera while they were still in the room.
The conversation begins with Mike’s 35 years in the folk art world and his early trips through the Southeast visiting artists. From there, Matt and Mike dig into Billy Ray Hussey, including a red-glazed lion Matt calls one of the best pieces of contemporary Southern pottery he has ever seen, along with an early monumental lion from Hussey’s years around M.L. Owens and Jugtown.
The table keeps changing as more pieces come out: rare stamped North Carolina copper measures, a Chester Webster salt-glazed jug, a small-bottom dirt dish, Charles Moore pottery, a double-sided Charlie Brown face jug, Benny Carter paintings and miniatures, Appalachian baskets, and an African American quilt found in Guilford County. Along the way, Matt talks about why serious collectors often are not sellers, and why some pieces disappear into private collections for a very long time.
Mike also brings a few treasures of his own, including hand-built circus wagons and a major James Harold Jennings piece. The episode closes with Matt showing Mike two alligator walking sticks that appear to be by the same unknown maker, opening up the bigger question of how anonymous folk art discoveries can begin with just one matching piece.
This is part auction preview, part collector conversation, and part folk art history lesson with one of the people who has spent decades chasing the artists, objects, and stories that make the field so alive.
Chapters
00:00 | $17 a Day and Chocolate Milk at the Bar
03:51 | Mike Smith Returns to the House of Folk Art
04:29 | Mike’s 35 Years in Folk Art
06:39 | Meeting Billy Ray Hussey
07:50 | The Billy Ray Hussey Lion
10:37 | An Early Billy Ray Hussey Lion
12:46 | Rare Pieces Before They Leave the Gallery
14:00 | North Carolina Copper Measures
17:08 | Chester Webster and a Small-Bottom Dirt Dish
19:58 | Charles Moore Pottery
23:11 | A Double-Sided Charlie Brown Face Jug
25:49 | Folk Art, Special Talents, and the Chicken Joke
27:12 | Benny Carter and Little New York
32:09 | Appalachian Baskets and Miniature Baskets
38:40 | A Guilford County African American Quilt
42:04 | Mike Brings Circus Wagons
49:52 | Remembering the Circus Coming to Town
52:08 | James Harold Jennings
57:07 | The Two Alligator Walking Sticks
01:02:22 | How to Display Walking Sticks
01:02:50 | Radcliffe Bailey and Classifying Art
01:05:10 | Final Thoughts with Mike Smith
Do you recognize one of these pieces, makers, or stories? Reach out to the show:
houseoffolkart@gmail.com
(919) 410-8002
Leave your name, where you are from, and any information you have. You might hear yourself on a future episode.
Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.
