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TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR ACCLAIMED MASTER CRAFTSWOMEN MAXIE MCCONNELL EADES AND JEAN MCCONNELL MOODY, OF PICKENS COUNTY, AND TO EXPRESS THE APPRECIATION OF THE SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE FOR THEIR SUCCESS IN HELPING TO PRESERVE THE CENTURIES-OLD CRAFTS TRADITION OF THIS GREAT STATE THROUGH THE CREATION OF THEIR BEAUTIFUL WOODEN BOWLS.
Whereas, themselves among the Palmetto State's chief art treasures, Pickens County sisters Maxie McConnell Eades and Jean McConnell Moody have produced thousands of rustically beautiful wooden bowls, implements, and figures that make them two of the most admired South Carolina craftswomen of our day; and
Whereas, known for their personal charm, as well as their master craftsmanship, Maxie and Jean, with the help of their husbands of nearly sixty years, Hilton Eades and Leon Moody, use a chain saw to harvest such hardwoods as maple, cherry, walnut, and poplar from their own seventy acres as raw materials for their creations; and
Whereas, the ladies, natives of Pickens County, gained the general mechanical expertise necessary for operating their bowl-making equipment by working for many years as mechanics at the nearby J.P. Stevens plant. After retirement, they parlayed those skills and their natural creativity into crafting wooden bowls that speak rustic elegance to those who view and use them; and
Whereas, since they began making bowls about twenty years ago, their personal stories and their creations have found their way into various print, film, and broadcasting media, museums, and shows. Local television cameras have captured them, Sandlapper and South Carolina Magazine articles have featured them, and Upstate photographer Blake Halsey has made portraits of them that will appear on permanent exhibition at the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia and the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, both exhibitions being under the aegis of the Palmetto Portraits Project; and
Whereas, in addition, retired Furman University art professor Dr. Tom Flowers has painted and exhibited a portrait of Maxie in bowl-making gear, and presently a statewide South Carolina Educational Television program is featuring Bowl Digger, a documentary celebrating Maxie and Hilton Eades. This award-winning short is also on a film-festival tour sponsored by the Southern Arts Federation; and
Whereas, having long enjoyed common interests besides bowl making, Maxie and Jean, the fifteenth and sixteenth of a family of sixteen children, until recently could be found riding motorcycles along local mountain roads and flying one- and two-seater planes they constructed themselves from kits. At one time, they also played together in a family band that performed for various local events; and
Whereas, South Carolina is blessed to claim these truly gifted artisans as native daughters, and the Senate is pleased to publicly honor them for careers that have enriched the lives of so many. Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Senate:
That the members of the South Carolina Senate, by this resolution, recognize and honor acclaimed master craftswomen Maxie McConnell Eades and Jean McConnell Moody, of Pickens County, and express the appreciation of the South Carolina Senate for their success in helping to preserve the centuries-old crafts tradition of this great State through the creation of their beautiful wooden bowls.
Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to Maxie Eades and Jean Moody.
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