If you’re looking for mass-produced perfection, Jessica Taylor is not your girl. She values the aesthetic tradition of wabi-sabi, which embraces imperfection and uniqueness. No one of her pieces is like the other.
Taylor is not afraid to experiment and fail, believing that the journey of an artist can only progress through learning from failures and persisting. She uses a combination of retail and unique glaze recipes that were handed down from her mentor, Greg Hathaway. She’s not afraid to try something new or try something in a new way, resulting in some truly unique pieces.
A Minnesota native, Taylor relocated to Fayetteville, N.C., following her husband’s military career. In an effort to meet others in the community, she joined a pottery class taught by Hathaway, a well-known local potter. There, Taylor began to develop a love and talent for pottery, starting with hand-building and then experimenting on the wheel, where she mostly works now.
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Taylor values the marriage of beauty and function, creating pieces that can be used in everyday life or stand alone as a work of art. She has returned home to Minnesota, where she has transformed her passion for pottery into a business: Pottery by Jessica . The business is a family affair; her parents and two children enjoy working in the pottery studio with her. Taylor’s not the only creative one in the family; her husband is also a bladesmith and owner of Jeb Taylor Knives.
