Billy Ray Hussey

Billy Ray Hussey grew up in Seagrove, North Carolina, an area internationally renowned for its pottery traditions. He is the grandson of J. H. Jones, and his great-uncle was Melvin L. Owens, both noted potters. Hussey began his career in his great-uncle’s pottery shop, where he learned to prepare clay, use a potter’s wheel, and glaze and fire ceramic objects; he completed his first piece by the age of ten. Hussey opened his own shop in 1988 and began to work full-time as a potter, producing both earthenware and stoneware. The artist estimates that he has made around 3,000 pieces.