Jeannine Calcagno's Stoneware Pottery in SANTA CRUZ, CA

https://youtu.be/u5yxNwpc3x8?si=1rNfPCyE9zi2IDW7

Jeannine Calcagno Niehaus creates hand thrown decorative and functional stoneware pottery in a floral Japanese style. Her pieces are reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement and blend a highly glazed slip decoration against a rich stoneware surface to achieve her distinctive style. Inspiration for forms and imagery comes from her extensive flower garden and trips to Japan and China. She has been a producing studio potter for over 35 years.

 

From the sandbox to the ceramics studio...

She said that "The ceramics department at San Jose State was headed by a professor steeped in the Japanese MIngei movement. It was the late 60's and after a short stint teaching I joined the craft movement and set up a studio. I did my first show at Stanford University in 1972 and have been selling directly to those that use and display my work ever since.

As a child I spent many hours in a sandbox under a wisteria arbor and surrounded by beds of tulips, roses and a couple acres of lawn and trees...a regular Giverny set amid fields of tomatoes and alfalfa in the Central Valley of California. It is a Japanese farming community and I'm not sure if the ladies that traded boxes of See's candy for boughs of weeping willow for their Ikebana made a big influence, but my work has always been nature oriented and Japanese in influence.

I've been lucky to have made 5 trips to Japan with groups of potters, visiting many museums, potter's studios and of course, the 5th floor of big department stores that function as galleries. These trips and many books have informed and inspired my work.

Selling directly to the people that use my pottery has been my focus for these past 40 years, mostly at art shows in the Central Bay Area of California. The economy, changing demographics and modes of shopping have given my marketing a shift. I am learning the ins and outs of cardboard boxes, recycled packing and Mr. Brown. It is saving wear and tear on both my body and Jeep!

I hope you enjoy looking and hopefully purchasing and using my work. I have developed a distinct style that pairs a glossy decor with the raw texture of a stoneware clay for both decorative and functional pieces."

 

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