If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then so is ugliness.

However, those attending the face jug workshop at the Flat Penny Folk Art Gallery Saturday will learn that what is considered “ugly” has a strong history in Southeastern culture.

Saturday, members of the community – artistic or not – are invited to participate in Face Jug 101, hosted by Tim Flinn and Bobbi Jo Imbrogno of Flat Penny Folk Art Gallery, an institution founded with the goal of supporting folk artists.

Face jugs have been an important part of Southern culture since their introduction in the 19th century.

At that time, Edgefield, S.C., was the most significant pottery center in the Southeast due to innovations such as the treadle wheel, groundhog kilns, alkaline glazes and the face jug.

“These innovations traveled from Edgefield like the spokes of a wheel to destinations throughout the South, including Texas,” Flinn said.

The impetus for face jugs is unclear, but there are several theories explaining their creation.

Imbrogno said the face jug could have been a symbol of African or Caribbean origins that represent a cultural or religious past.

Another consideration is that the jugs, usually used for whiskey, evolved into the “ugly jugs” as individual protests against the consumption and production of alcohol.

Imbrogno said another likelihood is that the face jug was created as a “show-off” piece meant to impress a boss, customer or other workers.

After the Civil War, glass and tin containers dominated the North while the South maintained its dependence on the potter.

Prohibition ushered in a new era in American history in 1919.

The new era also ushered in a relationship between potters and bootleggers.

“The potter, as conflicted as the rest of the South, joined the Prohibition movement by creating more ugly jugs to visually show their support for Prohibition, while at the same time continuing to produce whiskey jugs for the bootleggers,” Flinn said.

The idea behind the face jug was that a person consuming whisky would look at it and, as he got more drunk, would think the jug was becoming uglier and uglier.

The hope was that the image of the “ugly jug” would scare the person enough to stop drinking.

The face jug saw its second heyday in the summer of 1968 when folk artist Lanier Meaders arrived on the Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Smithsonian Folk Festival with a carload of face jugs.

Since that point in time, the face jug has again begun to thrive and continues to grow throughout the south as a collectible item.

The cost of the workshop at Flat Penny Folk Art Gallery is $40 and includes a hand-turned Lizella jug by Tim Flinn and all of the materials needed to put a face on the jug.

The workshop begins with a brief history of the face jug, a demonstration and then participants are free to go to work.

Flinn and Imbrogno said they have only one requirement. “Just bring your own towel and a sense of adventure,” Flinn said.