By Karen Olson House

• Introduction
• An outlet at "Fancy Crafts"
• A "miracle"
• Download the full article as a

An outlet at Fancy Crafts

Mike’s daughter-in-law kept urging his and Brenda’s longtime friend and neighbor, Denise Beachum, to view Mike’s work. Denise and her husband Danny own Fancy Crafts/Granny Hollow Pottery, a gift shop and teaching studio in Wadesboro. Denise and Danny have taught crafts for years, and are well-respected for their community involvement in the arts. His daughter-in-law would ask the Beachums with wonder in her voice, “Have you seen Mike’s carvings?”

Danny eyed ‘em first. He looked at the walking staffs with carved faces. A little man chomping a cigar. A Civil War general. “I didn’t believe it,” Danny says. “The talent! The talent was shining like a light!”

The Beachums began selling Mike’s pieces, and customers were struck by the originality and true-to-life colors. “In the beginning, Mike wouldn’t put his name on his stuff,” recalls Denise. “He’d say ‘Why would someone want my name on it.’ He finally relented after an excited customer held up a purchase and cried ‘I want my piece signed and with dates, too. This boy is going to be famous!’”

Locals began handing their family pictures to Mike, asking him to carve or mold faces and figures. Sometimes Mike would add a character prop, such as a judge’s briefcase.

Some puny pumpkins also got things rolling. A man asked Danny to buy his leftover crop. “How much you want for ‘em?” Danny asked, slowly. The fellow said, “Oh, ten cents each.” Later, Danny considered the 10 or 12 miniature pumpkins he’d bought and wondered what on earth he’d do with them. “But Mike and Brenda stopped by and we got to talking,” recalls Danny. “Mike said, ‘I’ll take one home.’ I said, ‘Here, take two.’ He brought one back with this incredible face.”

Danny throws pots to sell in the Fancy Crafts shop, and Mike now decorates Danny’s pots with faces, birds, leaves and other decorative elements. Some look comically goofy—caricature mugs with buck teeth grinning jauntily outward. Others look human and haunting in their somber expressions. They start at $150.

Mike also molds clay. His expressive pottery faces range from a vintage-looking aviator with goggles to exotic-looking women with shawls wrapped around their heads.

“I love working with the clay. You can rework it,” says Mike, 55, a quiet, serious man. “With wood, you make a mistake, you throw it away.” Like many potters, he uses a hair dryer to shape the clay.

He patiently spends hours on fine pieces. A recent wood carving of an electric lineman, complete with rumpled shirt, work belt and hat, took about 88 hours.

Mike sells his work exclusively through Fancy Crafts. The Beachums take only a small percentage of the profit from Mike’s work.

Mike makes his creations in his workshop behind his one-story home five miles outside Wadesboro in the Brown Creek community. Mike made the backyard storage shed his own, erecting shelves, building a workbench, installing wiring and an air conditioner. Inside, his tools sit with the letters M J initialed on each gouge, a rainbow of acrylic paints nearby.