We are saddened to note the passing of ceramic artist Jane Peiser: former Penland resident artist, frequent Penland instructor, strong supporter of the school, and beloved neighbor for more than 50 years. She died at home on February 23 after a short illness. She was 89.

Jane had a Masters of Science in education from Illinois Institute of Technology and began her career as a teacher of art history in Chicago. She was also a painter for a time, but eventually turned her attention to ceramics. Her former husband and lifelong friend, glass artist Mark Peiser, explained that her interest was always in people and faces. “She had some issues with backgrounds,” he said, “and this caused her to start making compositions by putting ceramic tiles onto things.”

Mark said that she became frustrated with buying tiles, so she got a kiln and some clay and started to make her own. This allowed her to make different shapes. “They became leaves, and then they became figures, and she started glazing and painting them to create imagery dealing with faces and people.”

GLASS TO CLAY
Jane and Mark moved from Chicago to Penland in the late 1960s to join the resident artist program, and it was at Penland that she saw glass artists using the Italian techniques of murrine and millefiori. This method involves making a bar or slab of glass that has colored imagery embedded in it. The images are only revealed when the glass is cut into slices.

 

Jane was already working with colored clays and saw that she could adapt this glass technique to her material. “I don’t know when, exactly, the light bulb went on for her,” Mark said, “but she started doing a lot of work with colored clays and what glass people call ‘compatibility.’ She got that figured out and the colored clays really became part of the imagery. Then she started adding painted details. The final thing, what really made it all work, was that she started salt glazing the colored clays to create texture and brighten the color. It gives them so much life. The pieces are truly astounding.”

Mark added that, although Jane was not aware of this when she was developing this work, there is an Asian ceramic tradition (known today as nerikomi) that is similar to her method.

 

Her handbuilt forms are functional or figurative (sometimes both) and always incorporate fantastic, brightly colored patterns. Sometimes the patterns themselves contain narrative imagery. In her studio, she kept an inventory of carefully built, patterned clay slabs that were available to her as she created new forms and scenes.

Once she started working in clay, Jane left teaching and was able to support herself from studio work. “I think it’s probably true,” said Mark, “that she was the first ceramist in the city of Chicago ever to make a living from her work alone. Her work was pretty much always supported and cherished.”

JANE OF ARTS
She was a generous teacher who led workshops at Penland, Oregon College of Art and Craft, the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, Hawaii Arts and Craft, and other venues. She received two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and her work is in collections including the Smithsonian Institution in DC and the Mint Museum of Art in North Carolina. She also contributed a chapter to The Penland School of Crafts Book of Pottery (1975).

A great supporter of Penland, she held an open house at her studio each session for many years, she frequently donated work to scholarship and annual benefit auctions, and she was simply kind and welcoming to everyone.

A lovely obituary written by her daughter Martha, ends by saying this: “Jane’s constant action and attention to detail also grew lush, jewel-toned gardens. She made clothes, weavings, and hooked rugs all with her unique colors and imagery. She joined political, social, and professional projects of all sorts and was notoriously practical, energetic, and generous. She treated every person she met with dignity. She leaves behind a host of friends who appreciated her gentle, generous spirit, her unpretentious ways, and her highly original art.”

Mark added that when she lived in Chicago, she helped start a community arts center on the North Side. “Because of her zeal for the project,” he said, “she was known as ‘Jane of Arts.’”

Jane will be remembered with an informal event on the afternoon of April 2 at her house near Penland School.

 

 

Note: several years ago, Jane’s friends and family established a tuition-free, work-study scholarship in her name with a goal of continuing to increase the endowment so that the work requirement can be eliminated from the scholarship. If you are interested in helping with that effort, please contact Joan Glynn at 828-765-2359, ext. 1206.