MD FLOWERS
Michelle Dawn Flowers
CatawbaValley Potter
5973 NC 126, Nebo, N.C. 28761 Phone: 828-584-9966 E-mail
While attending high school, in Burke County, Michelle D Flowers took a pottery class and had the mud bug from then on out. She went to see a potter in Vale, NC, ( in the Catawba Valley), named Charles Lisk. He gave her a few words of encouragement and a block of clay to try. With his words still in echoing and a desire to make pottery she purchased a kiln at an estate auction with her cousin and decided to make a trip to Seagrove, NC, one of the focal points of pottery making. She met several potters during that day and had purchased a potter's wheel from a potter there before returning home. During her summer break after graduation in 1993, she tried her knack at it and decided to move to Seagrove. She purchased a vacation travel trailer and parked it in a local campground near Seagrove. At the pottery area of Seagrove, NC she apprenticed with several NC Master potters.
These include Nell Cole Graves, of JB Cole Pottery, Kings Pottery, Fat Beagle Pottery, Holly Hill Pottery, Earth Spirit Pottery, Wyndham Pottery, Arlie Albright Pottery, Nichols Pottery, Old Hard Times Pottery, Frog Pond Pottery, Brookehaven Pottery, Hart Arts of Morganton, NC, Shovelin' Barefoot Pottery of Sanford,NC and DK Clay of then Clayton,NC now located in Sanford, NC. While working for these potter's she befriended several other potters such as Ben Owen III, and Tom Gray. All of the potters of this area were very influencial in her work and she opened THE CAT'S MEOW POTTERY , Seagrove, NC. After living in this pottery world for almost four years,
she decided to move back to the mountains and the Catawba Valley pottery she had been yearning to make from the meeting of Charles Lisk. Following the traditions, she changed the pottery's name from the Seagrove area genre to a more appropriate Catawba Valley Name, MD Flowers Pottery and much hard work followed . Digging local clay, building designing, and firing her wood kiln, constructing a pottery shop and making "old timey" pots is what she does best. Eight years have transpired and she is still eager to open the just fired kiln prematurly. With help from Steve Abee, Catawba Valley potter, she has transformed her pottery into a more original Catawba Valley pottery style. Her kiln openings are every three or four months and are announced via mailing lists and regional newspapers.
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