House of Folk Art

Matt Ledbetter went into the depths of his attic and came back with the spookiest pieces in his collection, and he and Sully are decked out in Southern potters' Halloween wares.The table is stacked. Stacey Lambert's Pennywise, made for Matt's son back in 2018. A spider-and-witch mug. A Marvin Bailey Pinhead set with real nails that can snap off in the kiln. A rare Billy Ray Hussey jack-o'-lantern face jug, plus a pro tip on reading his BH marks and kiln numbers. Matt also tells the story of Marvin's son Kenny, who sat through his school's pottery week completely unimpressed. His dad makes pottery every day.Then a witch cutout shows up, followed by a whole stack of Finsters.  Sully makes a real cash offer on Marvin Bailey's pumpkin head statue. Matt shares the eBay find he calls the Michael Myers face jug and explains why he thinks eBay devalues art. He closes by remembering Otto and AB the Flag Man.Chapters:00:00:00 | The Halloween Edition00:02:09 | Vintage Halloween Decorations & Paper Mache Pumpkins00:05:40 | Stacey Lambert's Pennywise00:09:55 | Marvin Bailey's Pinhead (With Real Nails)00:13:50 | When Is a Face Jug a Halloween Decoration?00:17:01 | Marvin's Alien Face Jug & Kenny's Pottery Week00:21:45 | Billy Ray Hussey's Jack-o'-Lantern & Kiln Numbers00:24:17 | A Howard Finster Witch00:37:45 | Stacey Lambert's Skeleton Ashtray00:49:41 | The Devil Face Jug That Almost Came Back00:52:07 | Remembering Otto00:58:08 | Halloween Plans, Masks & AB the Flag ManDo you collect folk art Halloween decorations? Know anything about antique German Halloween decorations, or want a Christmas episode? Tell us in the comments or send us an [email protected](919) 410-8002Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode.

In this episode of House of Folk Art, Matt and Sully try something new: ten topics, six minutes each. Matt maps out a three-month House of Folk Art road trip from Tennessee to the Outsider Art Fair in New York, shares the story of two paintings that wouldn't stop talking to each other, and makes the case for buying brown furniture while it's cheap. Sully pitches time travel destinations, discusses cursed object collecting, and the two get into seller's regret, the one that got away, and the T206 Honus Wagner. Matt also tells the story of how Kobe Bryant's death pushed him to open Ledbetter Auctions the very next day. The episode wraps with the first ever House of Folk Art card break, chasing Ohtani.Chapters:00:00:00 | We're Not Talking About Folk Art00:01:33 | Should We Keep Going? The HOFA Road Trip00:06:58 | Time Travel: Country Stores, Dave Drake & Black Joe Jackson00:15:40 | Auctioneer vs. Entrepreneur: Is Gym Equipment Art?00:20:13 | Cursed Objects: The Paintings That Talked00:30:05 | What to Do With Brown Furniture00:36:29 | Going Beast Mode00:55:09 | The T206 Honus Wagner & the Upside Down Stamp01:01:06 | Seller's Regret01:06:28 | Non-Buyer's Regret & the Card Market01:11:18 | How Kobe Bryant Started Ledbetter Auctions01:18:17 | Drawing Conclusions01:21:07 | Our First Card Break01:26:21 | Wrap UpWhere were you when Kobe died? Ever bring home an object and have something strange start happening? Want more card breaks on House of Folk Art? Tell us in the [email protected](919) 410-8002Leave your name, where you are from, and any information you have about the item, artist, or collection. You might hear from us or see your story featured in a future episode.Follow @houseoffolkart for more folk art stories, artist visits, collection deep dives, and new episodes, and find upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Matt sits down with collector Mike Smith for a closer look at the work of S.L. Jones, using several carved heads and drawings from Matt’s collection alongside Mike’s firsthand memories of visiting Jones at his home in West Virginia.Mike met S.L. Jones late in his career and was able to spend time with him, photograph him, and document some of those visits on video. Matt and Mike compare early and late carvings, look at the similarities between Jones’ carved faces and drawings, break down the unusual stamped signatures found on some of his heads, and talk about the life-sized figures and carved bluegrass bands he made earlier in his career.Along the way, Mike talks about what it was like traveling around the Southeast in the 1990s to meet folk artists while they were still working. He explains why visiting artists in person added another layer to collecting their work and shares what he remembers from making the trip to see S.L. Jones.The episode ends with something Mike has held onto for decades: video from one of his visits with S.L. Jones. In the footage, Jones talks about carving as a child, drawing in school, retiring from the railroad, and eventually getting into carving in a much bigger way.Chapters00:00 | Mike Smith Met S.L. Jones01:26 | S.L. Jones Carved Heads and Signatures02:50 | Life-Size Carvings, the Band and His Drawings07:56 | The Problem with Collecting Folk Art12:37 | Stories from Visiting Folk Artists in the 1990s20:45 | Photographing Folk Artists25:25 | Mike’s Visits with S.L. Jones27:51 | S.L. Jones in Books and Old Photographs29:47 | Collecting S.L. Jones33:30 | How Many S.L. Jones Heads Are Out There?35:01 | Mike’s 1990s Video of S.L. Jones39:41 | S.L. Jones Crucifixes and Later Work42:10 | The Carved Band and Comparing His Faces44:15 | Why S.L. Jones Heads Are Hard to Find45:19 | House of Folk Art Keeps GoingMike Smith is still active in the folk art world as a collector and dealer through Mike’s at Home Gallery. Follow Mike on Facebook to see more from his collection, available folk art, and pieces he comes across:https://www.facebook.com/MichaelESmith72/Do you have a folk art collection, unusual antique, old photographs or video of an artist, or something tucked away that deserves a closer look? Reach out and tell us what you have:[email protected](919) 410-8002Leave your name, where you are from, and any information you have about the item, artist, or collection. You might hear from us or see your story featured in a future episode.Follow @houseoffolkart for more folk art stories, artist visits, collection deep dives, and new episodes, and find upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Matt sits down with antique dealer and collector Laura Saville for a deep dive into old baskets, using examples from Matt’s collection and baskets Laura brought with her to answer a deceptively simple question: how do you know a good basket when you see one?The episode starts with the best basket Matt says he has ever seen. They revisit footage from the Ledbetter Auctions sale, talk about the bidder who still regrets letting it go, and use it as the standard for what a truly great Appalachian basket can look and feel like.From there, Matt and Laura work through a table full of Appalachian baskets and explain what they are actually looking at when they pick one up. Age, construction, rim wraps, handles, ribs, tie-offs, patina, materials, shape, condition, repairs, and even the way a basket feels in your hands can all help separate an average basket from a great one.By the end, Matt has gone from showing Laura the baskets he knows best to letting her teach him what to hunt for next.Chapters00:00 | Laura Saville and the Basket Episode04:00 | The Best Basket Matt Has Ever Seen11:03 | How Old Is an Old Appalachian Basket?14:30 | The $200 Basket Matt Wouldn’t Sell for $10,00019:14 | Mary Prater and Recognizing a Basket Maker23:19 | Mary Causby and Baskets to Hunt For26:01 | Shelton Sisters, Damage and Condition29:06 | How to Analyze an Antique Basket36:17 | Cherokee River Cane Baskets46:39 | Miniature Baskets and “Micro Minis”57:55 | Painted Baskets01:06:16 | Laura Picks Her Favorite Baskets01:15:51 | Laura’s Baskets 01:23:06 | Northwest Coast Baskets and Materials01:27:27 | The Grandmother BasketLaura is based in North Carolina and maintains a full-time booth at The Antique Marketplace in Greensboro, where you can find antique baskets and other pieces she has collected and sourced.The Antique Marketplace6428 Burnt Poplar RdGreensboro, NC 27409Laura’s main booth is the first booth to the left behind the counter.She also regularly sets up at regional antique shows, including the Tarheel Antiques Festival, Liberty Antique Festival, and Fishersville Antiques Expo.Do you have an old basket, folk art collection, unusual antique, or something tucked away that deserves a closer look? Reach out and tell us what you have:[email protected](919) 410-8002Leave your name, where you are from, and any information you have about the item, artist, or collection. You might hear from us or see your story featured in a future episode.Follow @houseoffolkart for more folk art stories, artist visits, collection deep dives, and new episodes, and find upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

Kyle and Matt dive into the life, work, and wild imagination of North Carolina folk potter Stacy Lambert, using old photographs, stories, interview footage, and pieces from Matt’s collection to trace how Stacy developed a style completely his own.Stacy Lambert BioStacy was born in Randolph County in 1965, one of six children, and grew up around Seagrove. His parents worked in textiles rather than pottery, and his first artistic interest was drawing. After high school, he joined the Army, later returned to North Carolina, earned an associate degree in commercial art from Randolph Community College, and in 1993 began working with fifth-generation potter Sid Luck. Stacy started with more traditional forms, but drawing, figures, humor, and storytelling quickly became the center of his work.Matt explains how his own Stacy Lambert collection started at the Catawba Valley Pottery Festival and eventually grew into hundreds of miniatures, face jugs, figures, and custom pieces. Kyle and Matt also look through photographs from Stacy’s early years, including work from the 1990s, pictures with other potters, and a high school newspaper clipping from 1982 with the headline, “He creates a world of fantasy with pencil and paper.”The photographs lead into stories about Stacy’s Tattoo Man figures, James Earl Jones owning one, and what may be one of Stacy’s earliest face jugs. Kyle also previews footage from a video he and Sullivan filmed with Stacy in Asheboro, where Stacy explains why he moved away from traditional production pottery and toward work built around drawing, characters, and jokes.The second half of the episode turns into a tour through Matt’s collection. They open a box of Stacy miniatures, compare standard face jugs with more elaborate applied pieces, and look at everything from lions and tigers to custom Predator and Alien jugs. Along the way, Matt calls Billy Ray Hussey, tells the story behind a corn-and-snake jug inspired by something happening in his own life, and discovers what appears to be an actual snakeskin sitting on the pottery.The episode ends with a damaged Walter Fleming jug that Stacy turned into something completely new after its spout broke during firing. Matt calls it a “mystical collab,” and it sums up much of what makes Stacy’s work interesting: give him a traditional form, a broken pot, a movie character, a joke, or a story, and he finds a way to turn it into something unmistakably his own.Chapters00:00 | Stacy Lambert and Medusa03:13 | How Matt Started Collecting Stacy07:28 | Stacy Lambert Bio11:15 | Early Photos from the 1990s14:23 | A World of Fantasy with Pencil and Paper23:47 | Tattoo Man and James Earl Jones26:06 | Previewing the Stacy Lambert Video34:28 | Inside Matt’s Stacy Lambert Collection40:45 | The Snakeskin Discovery57:38 | Stacy’s Lions and Underpainting01:03:34 | Collaborations with Other Potters01:17:41 | Matt Auctions Stacy Miniatures01:24:52 | The “Mystical” Walter Fleming CollaborationDo you have a Stacy Lambert piece, an early photograph, an old pottery collection, or something tucked away that deserves a closer look? Reach out and tell us what you have:[email protected](919) 410-8002Leave your name, where you are from, and any information you have about the item, artist, or collection. You might hear from us or see your story featured in a future episode.Follow @houseoffolkart for more folk art stories, artist visits, collection deep dives, and new episodes, and find upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.