Ceramics artist Anne Jewett connects to the divine through her art at this year’s Tallahassee Pottery Market.
Jewett is celebrating the completion of her new works at her first-ever pottery market, which takes place July 13 at United Church of Tallahassee.
Embracing the divine feminine
Throughout time, goddesses have been worshiped and represented in ancient Greek and Roman mythology and continue to be venerated today in Buddhist and Hindu religions. Yet, historically speaking, organized religions have long been dominated by a patriarchal worship structure.
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The spiritual concept of the divine feminine acknowledges this. It expands beyond one belief system to include a more balanced spiritual experience that relies on the complementary energies within us all. Divine femininity does not divide the yin and yang along gender binaries but instead focuses on cultivating and connecting with our nurturing, understanding, empathetic side. It is through this side that she inspires.
Such inspiration can be seen in the creations of ceramics artist Jewett. “My work is influenced by the Divine Feminine and Goddesses from around the world. I create women in many different shades, cultures, and ages,” says Jewett. “I create mythical women and creatures that can express universal truths, emotions, and experiences that are challenging for the human body to accomplish.”
For Jewett, art has been the constant universal truth in her life. As a young artist, she found inspiration in cultural icons like installation artist Sandy Skoglund, clay sculptor Michelle Gregor, large-scale ceramic artist Jun Kaneko, Italian renaissance painter Artemisia Gentileschi, and feminist artists like Viola Frey and Judy Chicago.
Still, Jewett credits her parents for fostering her creative passions from a young age through their own artistry, her father being an excellent wood carver and her mother a talented cross stitcher and crafter. With a father in the Air Force moving their family from base to base, Jewett was exposed to dynamic cultures and art forms from all over the world.
She fell in love with clay and the art of ceramics. Jewett followed her passions to California, graduating in 2003 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics from California College of Arts and Crafts (CCAC). Since then, she has grown this passion into a thriving ceramic collection and art business rooted in a love for the craft and the clay.
“I love the way my hands feel covered in clay. One of the best smells in the world is basking in the anticipation of opening a new bag of clay,” Jewett said. “Such a bold and earthy scent makes my heart sing.”
Spirals and perspective
As an ordained Priestess who served for over 15 years in the Goddess Temple in San Francisco, Jewett learned Hawaiian traditions that celebrated women and all their stages of life. Because of this, she often uses Hawaiian symbols, plants, and flowers in her creations. Likewise, her time in Florida has influenced her paintings and sculptures.
“My faith is a significant part of how and why I create the work I do,” Jewett said. “Women are the protectors and bringers of life. My work shows that sacredness and the divine [are] rarely celebrated in our present culture.”
Jewett’s watercolor paintings are filled with whimsical spirals of texture and an array of vibrant colors. According to Jewett, the spiral is an ancient symbol that conveys the circle of life and rebirth. Along with her bold color choices, this adds a layer of storytelling and empowerment that creates movement within a piece.
The bright colors reflect the beauty of nature that is all around us,” Jewett said. “The use of bold black outlines creates movement, delineation, enhances contrast, and improves visibility of the details in my work.”
Each piece begins with a specific material that dictates the process.
For watercolors, Jewett just goes for it. She starts with an outline, then connects to the divine by allowing the piece to flow. Once the black outline is completed, she uses radiant colors to bring the painting to life. Jewett admits her favorite part is adding the metallic and glitter gold leaf to make it shine like magic.
When it comes to clay building, she is much more methodical. She sketches out her pieces to navigate the engineering, then uses the coil and pitch method to build sculptures and vessels. This method uses rolled-out long, narrow ropes of clay, one on top of the other, then smoothed out to create the form.
Her pieces are detailed and interact with light and perspective. For example, Jewett just finished a painting and sculpture combination that changes as the viewer moves. The ceramic piece has strategically placed holes that go all the way through. When lined up with the painting, the viewer can see circles of the painting from many angles.
Celebrating and creating
Jewett shares her powerful paintings and ceramics with the world through her Purple Full Moon Art business. Here, you can see her award-winning pieces, like her watercolor painting "Goddess of Grace," which was part of the 2023 Creative Tallahassee Exhibition at the City Hall Gallery. This piece was also chosen to be displayed for a year in the Commissioners’ Main Conference Room in City Hall.
Having been diagnosed with cancer in 2018, Jewett has had to work around her treatment needs to create new pieces. “Most smaller watercolor paintings began in July 2023, the last time I was in the hospital. I also draw the black outline of my paintings during the three-hour, three-times-a-week dialysis treatments,” Jewett said. “Then, at home, I enhance the images with watercolor paints and other techniques.”
Jewett is celebrating the completion of her new works by vending at her first-ever Tallahassee Pottery Market. Drawing from a vibrant, dynamic, and diverse ceramic and art community, the Tallahassee Pottery Market will host over 20 different and unique ceramic artists in a spacious showroom.
This market showcases an array of artists and styles and local artists who have trained in Tallahassee schools and programs like Tally Clay Arts, LeMoyne Arts, Lafayette Art Center, Florida State University, and Tallahassee Community College.
In addition to Jewett’s clay creations, the market will feature Jasmine of Dog Dog Studios’ whimsical, fun, sarcastic Tallahassee-themed pieces; Baum Road Studios' delicate highly illustrated porcelain pottery and jewelry; Earl Washington’s dynamic Raku African-designed pots; Chase’s Faces comical monster sculptures and more.
Be sure to stop by, ooh and awe over Jewett’s divine clay expressions, and find a ceramic treasure you can’t live without at this year's Tallahassee Pottery Market.
If you go
What: Tallahassee Pottery Market
When: 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, July 13
Where: United Church of Tallahassee, 1834 Mahan Drive
Cost: Free
Contact: TallahasseePotteryMarket@gmail.com; visit facebook.com/events/321559284150947
Dr. Christy Rodriguez de Conte is the feature writer for the Council on Culture & Arts (COCA). COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (www.tallahasseearts.org).
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