I fell in love with ceramics and my wife, Rebecca Kobos at the same time. We were juniors at the University of Illinois in 1970 where I was an English Ed major with an Art Ed minor. Becky, an Art Ed major, was showing a friend how to throw one evening when I was working at the pot shop and—miracle of miracles—we ended up marrying 18 months later. I bought a used wheel at that time and subsequently lugged it, unused, as we taught, raised two sons, and moved from our country acreage to Iowa City. Since our retirement 2010 we have been able to fulfill our long-held vision of working collaboratively on our art in our small studios in Lansing, Iowa.

Most of my work is wheel-thrown functional and decorative stoneware. My aim is for each piece to reveal the physical qualities of the clay itself as well as the thought and touch that creates each pot, whether a simple bowl or more complex form. We both do some hand-building and occasionally small, more whimsical pieces appear. Becky works primarily in fiber but often contributes painted and carved surface designs to enhance the pieces I throw. There is much to be said for little brown pots, but we like to incorporate colorful underglazes and high contrast sgraffito carving to accentuate our designs.

Joel’s Process:

Most of my work is wheel-thrown functional and decorative stoneware. My aim is for each piece to reveal the physical qualities of the clay itself as well as the thought and touch that creates each pot, whether a simple bowl or more complex form. I do some hand-building as well. For example, a new series is of "walking vases" which begin with a thrown form which is split to the base, slightly spread apart, turned upside down, and has a slab form which is textured, stamped, or otherwise decorated, affixed on top.

Another new slab series is "maps" of Pool Nine, re-imagining our Mississippi River landscape in colorful under-glazed abstract patterns of gently undulating clay. My process also involves working collaboratively with my wife, Becky Kobos, a fiber artist. We have long been interested in working together since I love to throw (which she does not) and she likes to hand-build and create surface designs on some of my work. Since our retirement from teaching in 2010 we have been putting this process to the test, and so far, we are still getting along!