Jeff has worked with clay since 1976 beginning as an apprentice to Bay Area potter Denah Griffiths, herself a student of Marguerite Wildenhain at Pond Farm on the Russian River in California. Jeff earned his Bachelors degree in Art at Humboldt State University and moved to Lopez Island in 1982.
Jeff established Red House Pottery in 1990 in a historic building on his eleven acres of land, which was the original lumber yard on Lopez. He began producing stoneware and porcelain work in his studio, firing vessels in his large gas kiln and later in a wood-fired kiln on Lopez. Jeff was a co-founder of both Chimera Gallery on Lopez and Anchor art space in Anacortes with his wife, artist Jean Behnke.