The Johnsonian

Issue date: 11/6/08 Section: Arts

As Lifetime's hit show "Army Wives" ended its second season with an emotional twist Sunday, alumna Jill Caraway and her mother had a reason to celebrate.

Jill Caraway, a 2005 graduate with a bachelor's degree of fine arts in ceramics, started a pottery business called "Sliver Pail Pottery" with her mother.

This year the mother and daughter duo had the opportunity to display their work on the set of the show, and it was an experience Caraway said was pure happenstance that she attributes to her sister.

Jill's sister, Maree, sophomore early education major, was looking through Skirt magazine when she found an article about Brooke Brunson, who is a set designer for the show "Army Wives" that was taping in Charleston at the time.

Maree said she wondered what would happen if Jill got in touch with Brunson and offered to put some of their work on the set.

"[Maree] found Brunson's email, and we sent her a note asking if she [was] interested in showing off a little local work," Jill said.
Brunson said yes.

After a few weeks of setting up a time to meet, their big break has finally arrived.

"We packed up pretty much one of everything we make, probably six big Rubbermaid boxes worth, and dragged it out for Brunson to look at," Jill said.

Jill said the process of showcasing their work was relatively easy.

As it turned out, the naval base where they taped the show was 20 minutes away from their home in Summerville.
When they arrived to the set, they laid everything out on a table for Brunson to see and, much to their amazement, Brunson was thrilled.

"She looked over it saying things like 'that would be perfect for Joan and Roland' or 'that color would photograph great' and 'can't you see Claudia Joy with these,'" Jill said.

Brunson placed her order for the pieces she wanted and the deal was set.

"Most of what she wanted, we already had in stock," Jill said. "We were able to work out delivery within a couple weeks."

They ended up using pillow vases in Claudia Joy's house, artist series vases in Joan's living room, kitchen canisters on the set.

Jill said the biggest perks of this whole experience is definitely the bragging rights.

"Every chance we get, we tell potential customers that we're totally on TV," she said.

Jill is currently working on a project she hopes to showcase in spring.
She will be at Winthrop Friday to discuss her piece in the Alumni Exhibition at 7 p.m. Friday in the Rutledge Gallery.

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