8 • The Southwest Portland Post
FEATURES
December 2009
Local potter to hold arts show at her Multnomah Village studio
By Polina Olsen
The Southwest Portland Post
Jan Edwards never took a pottery
class until she was out of college. Now,
she divides her time between clay
work, regular teaching, and giving
workshops everywhere from Colorado
to Tuscany.
“Painting and drawing figure largely
in my work on pots, clay paintings and
paper,” Edwards said from the light-
filled studio she built in the backyard
of her 1926 cottage near the Multnomah
Art Center.
Today, she was busy turning the
studio into a gallery for her upcom-
ing 19 th annual holiday show. During
the weekends of Dec. 4 and Dec. 12,
Edwards and a group of artists will dis-
play pottery, beaded jewelry, garlands,
-- even felted hats.
“I mostly sell out of the studio,”
Edwards said as she glanced around
the room. Her terracotta, porcelain and
stoneware creations range from abstract
wall hangings to food safe cookware.
Teapots are a specialty along with
colorful gravy pitchers and casserole
dishes that go from the oven to the table.
She recently finished a large tile instal-
lation for a home in Long Beach, Wash.
“I love to do custom tile,” she said. “I
do lots of backsplashes and also make
tile for bathrooms.”
Although her pottery passion started
later in life, Edwards always loved art.
“Mom said I was an artist from the
time I was two,” she said. “I was trying
to be a children’s book illustrator, and
accidentally got into clay work.” While
teaching swimming and art at a sum-
mer camp, someone showed her how to
use a potter’s wheel. “I got hooked,”
she said. “From day one I was up to
my eyeballs.”
Edwards left Chicago for Aspen, Col-
orado. In 1988, she attended a ceramic
conference in Portland, fell in love with
the city, and moved to her Multnomah
Village cottage one year later. During
that time, she’s seen pottery become
more competitive.
“The generation who taught us saved
the craft from extinction,” she said. “To-
day there are lots of people coming out
of graduate schools. In Oregon, there’s
a potter under every rock -- and often
a very good one.”
Edwards enjoys helping other artists
and teaches at the Multnomah Art Cen-
ter and Mt. Hood Community College.
She hopes her students will be among
those attending her December show.
“It’s my favorite way of marketing,”
she said. “I enjoy meeting people who
like my work.”
Jan Edwards Holiday Open Studio
with Judith Rose, Geraldine Foote,
Nancy Cushwa and Vicki Strom Medley
will take place at Edwards’ Multnomah
Village Studio at 2650 SW Custer St.,
Portland.
Hours are Friday, Dec. 4, 5 p.m. to
8 p.m. Saturday Dec. 5, 10 p.m. to 5
p.m., Sunday Dec. 6, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.,
Saturday Dec. 12, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and
Sunday Dec 13, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. For
more information, email clayjan@mac.
com.
Parker Realty, Inc.
Top: Clay painting by Jan Edwards.
(Photo courtesy of Dan Kvitka)
Right: Jan Edwards in her studio
with a oven-to-table casserole
dish and cake cover. (Post photo
by Polina Olsen)
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