Jane Couch-Osmelowski

Jane Couch-Osmelowski is retired from a combined 38-year career as an art educator, both as an elementary art teacher and an adjunct instructor in art education at USC.  She focuses on ceramics, sculpture and fiber arts.

Artist Statement

“Crown Series” is a collection of ceramic crowns embellished with delicate “dipped in slip” flowers and rusty nails and wire. The viewer can interpret this series in personal ways… circular or linear time from growth to decay; a style of power, from a soft touch to heavy handed;  a representation of gender, from feminine to masculine to the shades in between. The crown bases are thrown and enhanced with sculptural additions, slip, mason stains and red clay. My technique is intuitive and experimental. 


Presented by the Jasper Project, The Degenerate Art Project II is the answer to an overwhelming request by artists and patrons of Jasper's inaugural Degenerate Art Project (July 2025) for an additional exhibition which will involve an open call for visual artists. This 3 week-long multidisciplinary arts event (Feb. 11–28 at Stormwater Studios) invites Midlands artists to respond to today's socio-political climate, and unite our local arts community—physically and in spirit—in support and solidarity during challenging times. Inspired by—and reclaiming—the legacy of the Nazi-labeled "Degenerate Art" of 1937, this project champions creative resistance and free expression through a visual art exhibition, featuring over 40 Midlands artists.