Jamie Smith grew up playing in clay at his aunt and uncle’s pottery shop in Merigold.

“My first sculpture piece was Moby Dick,” he said. “I took a big block of clay and hammered on it. I beat a tail into it. Then I put some little teeth in it. They dried it slowly for well over a month.”

Today, Jamie and his brother, Stephen, help run McCartys Pottery, a hidden Mississippi gem nestled in the foliage in this tiny town outside Cleveland.