Welcome to Faces in ClayFaces in Clay is a website devoted to face jugs by the folk artist William Flowers and the Flowers family of Robbinsville, North Carolina .
My name is Syl Turner and I am the owner of an antique business known as Rita's Relics. In 2004, while attending a small auction in rural North Carolina, I purchased my first William Flowers face jug and was so energized by this discovery that I set out to find the artist responsible for what I considered to be a truly remarkable piece of American folk art. My search led to a small town in the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina, where Bill Flowers, a self taught potter, has for the past several decades been turning clay into art.
A friendship ensued and from that friendship, an arrangement whereby Bill has agreed to create a series of face jugs exclusively for marketing by Rita's Relics. These include animal faced jugs of pigs, cats, dogs, and frogs; a series of jugs depicting politicians; a series of jugs relative to Black Americana; as well as other specific character jugs. I am proud to be associated with this truly outstanding artist and his family. I invite you to discover for yourself the raw, expressive, unconventional, and truly original folk that William Flowers and his family creates. Rita's Relics is located in the Broad Street Antique Mall, at 3550 Broad St. in Chamblee, Georgia; a northern suburb of Atlanta. The Broad Street Antique Mall is open daily and if you are in the Atlanta area, you are invited to view the Flowers face jugs in person. Currently, there are 35 different face jugs that Bill has created exclusive for Rita's Relics, and more are being planned. |
