Meme Muggin’

If you enjoy having your morning/afternoon/midnight coffee with a chuckle, you and Fiva McCanless would get along. Fiva takes traditional pottery and turns it into what she calls “silly and whimsical folk outsider art.” She is based out of Seagrove, which is known for pottery, and comes from a well-known family in the pottery world — she and her siblings used to help around their shop as kids. “I was kind of born into it,” she says. Becoming a potter herself was never on her vision board, but she came back to the skill in a way that was her own. 

“My parents’ work was more traditional but I always liked drawing goofy things,” she says. “This works with my personality. No one else in Seagrove is really telling jokes with pottery.”

Her collection features hand-painted plates, mugs, vases and more with cheeky sayings and animals she frequently encounters in her rural area, such as opossums, toads, cats and foxes. “Some are maybe a little dark but thats my sense of humor,” she says. “I’m a big fan of memes.”

Fiva frequents craft shows around the state and features her work in several Seagrove shops, including her brother’s: Eck McCanless Pottery. She says the most rewarding part is hearing the big belly laughs at shows when someone sees a piece of her pottery they like. “I like making those connections with other people and making them smile. That means a lot to me.”

To see more, give Fiva a follow on Instagram. See something you like? Inquire about a piece via email.