The natural beauty of the Northern California coast inspires Janice Rowell’s life's work in porcelain, painting, assemblages and jewelry.
Ceramics made an impression on her from childhood - a passion that has guided her artistic journey. She loved playing in the mud.
At the age of 22, she rediscovered that passion and has nurtured it ever since.
Rowell developed a unique technique in ceramics she calls "Multifaceting" for which she was granted a U.S. Design Patent. Her aesthetic signature and language is classic, pure and simple, mimicking the natural world.
Her work was featured in Ceramics Monthly (1981) and presented in the solo exhibition Porcelain Raku at the Palo Alto Cultural Center (1982). At that time she received a KQED TV award, appearing on primetime TV. Rowell’s ceramics, recognized for their originality, skill and meditative restraint, are held in public and private collections worldwide, including the San Francisco Arts Commission.
Over her decades long career, she has received numerous awards and acclaim for her innovative approach to ceramics, jewelry and mixed media design.
Rowell fulfilled a long held dream when she opened the Janice Rowell Gallery in Pacifica, gaining national attention. The gallery featured Janice's work along with some of the best contemporary American artists that she represented.
Janice closed her brick and mortar gallery after 12 years of operation, moving to an online presence today.
Now at 76, Janice, also, enjoys cultivating her kitchen garden of edibles that she shares with family, neighbors and friends with the help of her husband, Don, celebrating 55 years of marriage. Currently she grows and distributes passion fruit to some of the finest Northern California restaurants; Ernie's Restaurant (the first), The French Laundry, Chez Pannise and La Mar to name some.
Her fresh picked passion fruit were the first to enter the marketplace in 1982 in Northern California.