A Philadelphia potter makes Judaica and everyday ceramics decorated with wheat, figs, grapes and pomegranates.
Jennifer Wankoff grew up with a strong Jewish background and went to a Jewish day school. In college she took a double major in art and psychology, and at first she thought about a career in art therapy.
Then, in 1997, she joined a programme at Kibbutz Kfar Hanasi in Israel. There she learned pottery from one of the kibbutz’s founders, a teacher who wove pottery technique together with Hebrew, Jewish and Israeli traditions and history. “I was hooked on clay,” she told Judaica in the Spotlight.
In Israel she also assisted a Jerusalem clay artist who makes porcelain sculptural Judaica, and volunteered with new Ethiopian immigrants. In her own words on her website, that time showed her Israel’s folk art, its Jewish cultural life and its close ties to the land and farming.
In Philadelphia, Jennifer worked in the gallery at The Clay Studio and then coordinated its outreach programme, The Claymobile, before becoming an independent artist. She now works in a studio in the basement of her home. She has taught adult pottery classes, including a ceramics class for blind and visually impaired adults.
Most of her pieces begin on the wheel. She often facets them with a wire and then gently swells them outwards, drawing on the spiral patterns of nature, and she also builds some pieces by hand. Sometimes she works in six sections, like the six sided Star of David, and lets those sections guide the decoration.
Her decoration starts with a base glaze. Over it she trails outlines of wheat, figs and pomegranates, drawn from the seven species of Israel, and fills them with other colours. One glaze, made with chrome and tin, blushes a soft pink in the kiln. She looks to Persian patterned pottery, Islamic ceramics, antique Judaica, paper cuts and ketubot for ideas.
Her work moves easily between ritual and routine. She makes Kiddush cups with grape vines and wheat sheaves, tzedakah boxes with pomegranate branches, candlesticks for Shabbat, and storage jars with fig branches, as well as mugs for the morning coffee. A chanukiah inspired by antique metal wall chanukiot is a project she has especially enjoyed.
“I hope that my pottery brings beauty and intention to people’s rituals,” she told Hunker.
She also shares the clay with her community. In August 2026 Ohev Shalom synagogue in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, invited people to a pottery evening with her, to make apple and honey dishes fired in time for Rosh Hashanah.
Whether the moment is a blessing over candles or a quiet cup of coffee, Jennifer hopes her pieces bring a touch of beauty and appreciation to it.
Do you make something too? Open your shop on The Kosher Shop.
Judaica, gifts, food and wine from businesses we know personally.
