Biography Jay Owens
I was born in upstate South Carolina in 1978. I grew up in Westminster most of my life. In 1995 I attended the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts 5 week Honors Program at Furman University.
After high school I attended Winthrop University in painting. Outside of my obligatory classes, I found my way to the ceramics studio to throw. Later I changed my major to ceramics. While at Winthrop I took summer classes at Peters Valley Craft Center in New Jersey with potter Mary Barringer and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine with potter Michael Simon. During this experience in the summer of 1999 my work began to take on a voice of its own. After 3 years at Winthrop, I moved to Logan, Utah to attend Utah State University as an exchange student. I was looking for a new challenge. I really enjoyed the desert, beautiful mountains and snow. I stayed to finish my undergraduate degree in ceramics. I enjoyed the bigger university setting. I was exposed to ceramic artists, potters and sculptors from England, Australia, and Japan. In 2001 I traveled to Niger, West Africa to look at pottery and live in the culture that was influencing my work. While there I had the opportunity to work with potter Monika Galleria for 3 weeks. In Niger I began to understand what it means to be a potter. Working in Boubon, a village on the Niger River, allowed me time alone to work and lose myself in a new place and different culture. After my trip my work took a different direction. My sculptural and pottery pieces began to merge in way that had not before. I became more expressionistic with form and color. While at Utah State I received an Undergraduate Research Grant that gave me the opportunity to explore clay sculpture. I graduated from Utah State, Cum Laude in 2002.
After graduating I moved back to South Carolina. A couple of months after moving back I started my professional studio, Carnival Clayworks. I taught classes out of my studio while also making pots and sculpture. I exhibited my work in galleries and craft fairs in Florida and Alabama. In 2005 I was studio assistant at Penland School of Crafts for Matthias Ostermann. I built my studio in Travelers Rest in 2007 where I continue to work.
