William Flowers Biography

Bill is a self taught folk art potter who grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. He built his first potters wheel in 1969, using an old truck axle and odd metal parts. In one of his first attempts at wood firing, he nearly set his house on fire. Through trial and error and experimentation Bill developed into a highly collected Southern Folk Artist. In the early 1980's, after years of making functional pottery, William Allen Flowers was introduced to the jugs of Lanier Meaders and Burton Craig. These face jugs were just the creative outlet that Bill was looking for and he immediately turned his artistic talents to the creation of this uniquely Southern folk art. Bill's success grew with this new outlet and over time, he has created a dependable alkaline wood ash glaze in the traditional Southern folk art style. His work is highly prized and has been on exhibit at the Smithsonian for the last 10 years. However, Bill considers the greatest recognition of his work to be the acknowledgement he receives from Clete Meaders III., who refers to Bill as: “ The most creative potters working in America today.”

Bill's wife Erma Jo often assists her husband and creates a variety of free spirited face jugs, representing her own relaxed attitude for life. Their son William Avril is also an accomplished potter. The Flowers currently reside in a remote area near Robbinsville N.C.

On display are examples by the entire Flowers family, William, Avril and Jo. (Avril has the same signature as his dad, I.e., W.A.Flowers; however, Avril's work can be distinguished by the unique cartouche he employs below his signature.)

Each face jug created by the Flowers family is individually hand thrown before a face is painstakingly added. Face jugs depicting caricatures, particularly the multicolored ones, are not commonly produced by other potters because of the skill and time it takes to craft the image and the many firings required for the different colored glazes.

All of the items displayed are of course, one of a kind commission pieces made in a limited quantity exclusively for Rita's Relics. Each item is numbered and has an RR identification mark.