Artists’ Statement
Background
Lois Jean and William Elton Barker are the husband and wife team that combine their middle names to produce the studio name - being convinced that “Jean Elton” is more “artsy” than the “Bill & Lois Pottery Company”.
While the company wasn’t formally started until later, the couple began their mostly self-taught odyssey in ceramics in 1973, where Bill was stationed at Fort Sill, OK and they began to explore the on-base ceramic shop. Their history is outlined in a series of blog posts found here:
In the mid-1980s, Lois holds her daughter, and future co-owner of Jean Elton, Amy, on her back, while she throws pottery on the wheel.
Bill
Bill once won a contest for the most unusual summer activity of New York City businessmen when he said he would be making plaster molds for his wife’s ceramic art business. More the design engineer of the two, Bill works with Lois to bring new shapes to fruition through plaster modeling and die-making.
Making measurements for a geometric surface treatment on a Sail Vase
The final product: a Jean Elton Sail Vase with a geometric surface treatment.
Connecticut & Team
The founders and Amy work in the Jean Elton studio in Connecticut where their small but growing team assists them, including their 6 pound Yorkie, Rex. The team welcomes studio tours, but only with advance notice so that Rex may be locked away for the safety of guests.
Lois
Lois is the artist of the pair. Her first expressions of design were in home decorating, starting when she was a teenager who loved to rearrange paintings, furniture and other decorative objects in her parents’ home (often to their frustration). Today, she awakens in the morning eager to get to the studio, often with a fresh design idea. “I love creating designs on clay shapes, always imagining them in a lovely home where they help create an ambience that encourages rich interaction among people and their modes of expression”, says Lois.
She continued, “We are so delighted that in addition to seeing our work in many fine homes, we are beginning to see hotels, inns and offices also acquire our work.”