Lanier Meaders

Lanier Meaders is no doubt the most well known folk potter in America. He was the third son of Cheever and Arie Meaders and showed an early talent for pottery making while working as a child in the Meaders pottery shop.    After returning home from WWII, Lanier lived at the family home and only occasionally worked at his dad’s pottery shop. That changed when Lanier realized that folk pottery was about to disappear altogether and decided to keep the tradition alive for at least a bit longer. The rest, as they say, is history.    Today no folk pottery collection is complete without at least one of Lanier’s face jugs, of which he made thousands, each one different from the other. Lanier won several national awards, including the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.    After dating for many years, Lanier married his life long sweetheart, Betty Jean Lewis. Lanier died in 1998 and is buried in White County.