Jay Owens (born 1978) is a ceramic artist who grew up in upstate South Carolina. He attended the SC Governor’s School for the Arts. Jay attended Winthrop University and graduated from Utah State University with a BFA in ceramics. While at Utah State he received an Undergraduate Research and Opportunities grant to develop clay slips and glazes for paper clay porcelain sculpture. He traveled to Niger, West Africa in the summer of 2001 where he worked in Boubon, a traditional pottery village on the Niger River. While there his ideas of how traditional techniques can be expanded to include traditional forms in relation to contemporary ideas and issues. The experience expanded his sense of design and color in clay.

He has attended Peters Valley School of Crafts and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts He also attended Penland School of Crafts as a teaching assistant. He has conducted ceramic classes and workshops for children and adults. He has presented workshops for the South Carolina Art Educators Association Conference. He was an artist in residence for the South Carolina Arts Commission from 2003-2007. He taught in the SmartArts, arts integration program, with the Metropolitan Arts Council 2003-2005. Jay has been featured in Studio Potter Magazine and Ceramics Monthly. In 2007 his work was featured in Studio Visits at the Greenville County Museum of Art. His work was featured in 500 Pitchers and Ceramics for Beginners: Wheel Throwing publications. Most recently Jay was featured in At This Moment: Portraits of South Carolina Artists by Jerry Siegel, exhibition and book. His work was featured in the 2025 SC Biennial at 701 Center for Contemporary Art. He’s had solo exhibits at If Art Gallery and Metropolitan Arts Council.

Jay has exhibited his work at Lill Street Ceramic Center (IL), Ariana Gallery (MI), Baltimore Clayworks (MD), Lux Center for the Arts (NE), Greenville Center for the Creative Arts (SC), Art & Light Gallery (SC), Pelter Gallery (SC), Armory Art Center (FL), Nora Eccles Caine Harrison Museum of Art (UT), Furman University (SC), Mike Brown Contemporary (SC), Bascom Center for the Visual Arts (NC), Art in Embassies program, Bern Switzerland, Lincoln Arts and Culture Center (CA), Public Works Art Center (SC) and ArtFields (SC). His work is in the collection of the Greenville County Museum of Art, Southern Illinois University and private collections in the US and Europe.