James C. Watkins (1951 - ) was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1951 and raised in a farming family in Athens, Alabama.

[5] Watkins gained recognition through his inclusion in the 1993 White House Collection of American Crafts,[6] which was curated by Michael Monroe, who was then the director of the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.

The Horn Professorship is the highest honor that Texas Tech University bestows on members of its faculty.

Horn Professorships are granted to professors in recognition of national and international distinction for outstanding research or other creative scholarly achievements.

Watkins creates large double-walled ceramics forms that are inspired by the memory of helping his mother keep the fire burning hot around the cast-iron pots.