Spears Pottery
Larry and Jan Spears. photo by Cindy Steele
in Nashville
~ by Bill Weaver
Ironically, Larry and Jan Spears had to move their showroom from their home in southern Brown County to Nashville to spend more time together.“ There just wasn’ t enough business out there at the shop,” Larry says.“ I had to do so many shows, almost every weekend, traveling all over the country. One of the reasons it’ s nice to have a place like this downtown is to make the income so I won’ t have to drive so much.”
Spears Gallery sits at the heart of Nashville’ s arts and entertainment district, Arts Village Brown County— not just physically, but historically as well, as it’ s located in the very building where Portia Sperry pioneered the business of locally handcrafted merchandise at her shop, Brown County Folks. There, she sold everything from locally-produced candy, basketry, and woodcraft; while helping midwife the birth of distinctive Brown County pottery. Her greatest triumph, of course, was the Abigail doll.“ I still have people who come in and tell me that their grandmother worked right back here making the Abigail dolls,” Jan says.
“ Sperry commissioned( the potter and Indiana University art professor) Karl Martz to build the beehive kiln that’ s been made into a planter out front,” Larry says.“ She carried his work in here and, I think, some of the Hohenberger photography. It’ s kind of come full circle,” he adds.
From Columbus, Indiana, pottery started as a hobby for Larry around the same time he met Jan. When the hobby turned into a serious pursuit the couple decided to pull up stakes and move to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where they learned the art of making and selling pottery in a very demanding market.
It was while visiting their parents in Columbus that they began exploring Brown County
16 Our Brown County • July / August 2015