Silicon Valley Open Studios

About Jeannine Calcagno

As a child raised in the Central Valley of California, I was surrounded by fields and my mother's glorious flower garden. I spent hours making mud pies and I suppose all of this prepared me for those ceramics classes at San Jose State University. After receiving a BA in art and a teaching degree, I chose instead to start my own ceramics studio. I have been a producing studio potter now for over 40 years….still playing in the mud and finding glory in flora and fauna that surrounds me.

During these years I have developed my own distinctive decorative style, informed by multiple trips to Japan and hours pouring over books about Art Nouveau and the Art and Crafts movement. My work blends the rich clay surface of stoneware with glazed porcelain slip decor. This creates a dynamic of elegant refinement with rustic simplicity. All of my pieces are cone 10 gas fired in a reduction atmosphere and are both decorative and functional.