Josie Jurczenia is a multimedia artist who graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland with a degree in textiles. She is the founder of Sweet Potatoes, a children's clothing company, where she served as president and design director until 2004. After retiring, Josie turned her attention to crafting her hand-built, textile inspired pieces. Her pieces are made of mid-fire clay slabs and cut using paper patterns, then assembled and darted for volume. Josie decorates her pieces using a variety of techniques, including scratching, mishima, stenciling, and silk screening. She merges her passion for ceramics and textiles by cutting her paper patterns from thick wool felt, which she then embroiders, paints, and glues together. This fusion of ceramics and textiles allows Josie to create functional objects that look beautiful on a table, feel good in the hand, and weave joy into daily experiences.
Josie has been an active member of the ceramics community, serving on the boards of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists, the Richmond Art Center, and the ACCI Gallery. She also founded the Fourth & Clay Gallery in Berkeley, California. Her ceramic work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States, including the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Trax Gallery, Palo Alto Art Center, Cooley Gallery, Abrams Claghorn Gallery, and Roscoe Ceramics Gallery. Currently, she is a featured artist at the Schaller Gallery in Michigan, and her work has been published in 500 Teapots and 500 Vases by Lark Books. Her process is also detailed in the March 2015 issue of Pottery Making Illustrated.
Josie is the mother of three grown children and a grandmother to six. She resides in Berkeley, California for most of the year, but spends her summers and falls in Woodstock, New York, where she teaches hand-building techniques at Byrdcliffe Ceramics.