Jean Wells

Jean Wells, owner of Jean’s Clay Studio, creates colorful sgraffito pottery in her home studio in Brown Deer, Wisconsin. She studied at the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1985–1988, majoring in ceramics and minoring in portrait painting. After apprenticing at Geneva Art Pottery in 1990, she started her own studio practice in Milwaukee in 1993.

Wells sells her work at regional art and craft shows and in her online shop on Etsy. From 2013–2018, she created a successful series of limited-edition mugs for Colectivo Coffee and was commissioned by the USGA to create commemorative pieces for the 2017 US Open Championship in Erin, Wisconsin.

Wells serves on the board of Wisconsin Craft, Inc., and is a member of the Milwaukee Artists Resource Network. She co-founded Milwaukee Empty Bowls, which has raised over $1 million for local food pantries and meal programs since 1999.