Jean Higgs became interested in ceramics after living in Washington, DC. She trained at the East Sydney Technical College and, by 1964, according to early issues of Pottery in Australia, she had visited potteries and galleries in the US, England, Europe, the Middle East, Korea and Japan, and was producing stoneware fired in an electric kiln made by her husband, Arthur. She has entries in the 1974, 1977 and 1985-1988 potters' directories, all with a Bayview, NSW, address. These show her interest in digging local clays and in decoration, which she regarded as an essential feature of pots. In the 1986 directory, she describes using wax and paper relief over magnesia glazes, reworked with oxides and zinc glazes. She was represented by the Holdsworth Galleries in Woollahra and by Helen McEwen Gallery in Paddington. She marked her work with a painted or incised 'Jean Higgs' or 'JHiggs' or a painted 'JH' with the H as a single line.