- Around Town
- Around Town - New Hope Receives FIDELIS Charitable Foundation Gift
- Around Town - September-October 2011
- Our Pick - theWforum
- Ask The Experts
- Ask The Expert - Alexandra Freer
- Ask The Expert - Total Vein and Rejuvenation Center
- Ask The Experts - David Chewey
- Bay Wellness
- Bay Wellness - Don't Forget
- Bay Wellness - Health After Menopause
- Bay Wellness - Physician Focus: Steven R. Berkman
- Buyers Guide 2011-2012
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - iPlay America
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - Distinctive Pools Inc.
- Buyers Guide 2011-12 - S Decenzo Design
- Cover Story
- Dr. Dinosaur ...aka Dr. Paul Kovalski
- Novel Ideas - Robin Friedman: Author, Journalist, and Jersey Girl
- Leader of the Pack - Lt. Colonel James Sfayer
- Featured Artist
- Featured Artist - José Serrano
- Featured Artist - Tim Dorland: A Glass Act
- Featured Artist - Franco Minervini
- Gift Guide
- Gift Guide - Avanti Day Resort
- Gift Guide - Nevada Exchange Trading Post Outlet
- Gift Guide - West End Confection Co.
- Health Talk
- Health Talk - Anthony Sparano, M.D.
- Health Talk - Dr. Patrick Cuozzo
- Health Talk - Lori S. Gormley, M.D.
- Health, Wellness & Beauty
- Health - Dr. Louis B. Conte
- Health - Vincent Camarda, D.D.S., P.A.
- Health - StudioSpin+
- Homes
- A Big House That Lives Small - Garofolo
- Traditions - Monteforte
- Sunrise to Sunset - The Bonfiglio's
- Living in Colts Neck
- Home at Last
- It's All in the Details
- Writing a Legacy with Superintendent Dick Fitzpatrick
- Newsletter Articles
- Eagle Oaks Golf & Country Club - In A League of Their Own
- Around Town - New Hope Receives FIDELIS Charitable Foundation Gift
- The Home - Rosen Decorators
- Our Picks
- Our Pick - Joe Hurley Inc.
- Our Pick: Family Vision Center
- Our Picks - Lincroft Village Jewelers
- People On The Move
- People On The Move - Rabbi Sally J. Priesand
- People On The Move - John Dias
- People On The Move: Andrea Mesh
- The Bay
- The Bay - $1 Million Emergency Department Expansion Opens
- The Bay - Welcome to the Premiere
- The Bay - One Stop Women’s Health
People On The Move - Jenn Lukowiak
10/31/2011 - By Chad A. Safran
Jenn Lukowiak: A Life of Color & Clay
Jenn Lukowiak’s professional life has always been about color. She has spent time creating print designs for men’s and women’s sportswear. Jenn has also used her well-trained eye critiquing color lines and forecasting color trends for the likes of London Fog, Liz Claiborne, and most recently Macy’s Merchandise Group, where she examines the company’s four lines of intimate apparel. “I look at the color that’s going into print artwork,” says Jenn. “I make sure it’s the same hue, value, and intensity, and that the colors work well together.”
But while inspecting colors is her job, it’s pottery that’s her passion, one that was unleashed when she and her family moved to Virginia in 1999. Although she had attended an artistic college (Philadelphia University), she never learned about ceramics despite a desire to do so. Her husband, Pete, spotted an ad in a local newspaper for pottery classes two nights a week at a nearby high school. Having just moved to Virginia and as a mother with two boys, ages three and one, this was a perfect opportunity for her to get some time to herself. “I loved it, and my teacher kept asking me if I had done this before,” recalls Jenn. “I had never touched a piece of clay before but picked it up really quickly. It was really fun.”
Her first successful project was a clay whistle, but soon she was creating so many mugs and chip/dip platters that she had to install shelving in the garage for all her work. By chance one day, while Jenn was out getting the mail, a neighbor walked past and invited her to an art sale. After getting one look at the pieces in the garage, Jenn was no longer invited as a guest, but rather was asked to sell her work at the event. “I was taking a class at the high school, no one was going to buy this stuff,” she says. “I thought I would get a couple of sales from people I knew, but when people I didn’t know started buying I thought that was pretty cool. I ended up selling more than half of what I brought.”
Jenn and her family moved back to New Jersey in 2001. She returned to work in fashion but still found time for clay, making pieces for home shows/pottery parties at friends’ houses. She would drop off pieces in advance of the party for the host to use as serving pieces. Then Jenn would come by later with six or eight of each item for the guests to purchase. She moved on to art shows and then, as she became more successful selling her work, Jenn began her own official business, Bella Terra (Italian for “Beautiful Earth”), in 2002. The name, and much of her work, is inspired by her ancestors’ roots in Naples and Gorizia and her happy memories of family times around the kitchen table.
The pottery gave Jenn a creative outlet that being in the fashion industry had limited. She could do whatever she wanted. That changed exponentially four and a half years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “Then it became therapy,” says Jenn, who is now cancer free. “It was my escape. I was on a disability leave. I could go in my basement, create pieces, and it didn’t matter that I didn’t have any hair or that I didn’t feel great. I could create. It’s given me back far more than I put into it.”
This time of year and the spring are Jenn’s busiest. She currently takes 6-12 hours each week to make a variety of items, including pasta bowls, oil and vinegar sets, apple bakers, and her favorite, large free-form platters. Her biggest sellers are chip and dip sets, which take Jenn about 30 minutes in total to create and glaze. Yet, each piece needs to be put into the kiln for two 14-hour cycles before it is ready.
While Jenn would love there to be a time in her life when she could do pottery full time, she finds plenty of moments to spend in the basement making her art. However, there is one condition. She says, “I will go down there with a cup of coffee on a Saturday morning, when Pete and the kids are out running errands, for two hours. I always give myself a time limit.”
FAVORITE RESTAURANT
Moonstruck, Asbury Park
FAVORITE MUSIC
Aerosmith
FAVORITE MOVIE
“Jaws”
PET PEEVE
Gossip
THREE PEOPLE YOU WOULD LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH
Her father, Steven Tyler and CoCo Chanel
Advertisers
Powered by eDirectory™