Jessica Rankin facts for kids

Jessica Rankin is an Australian artist born in Sydney in 1971. She creates amazing art and lives in New York City. Jessica is famous for her unique embroidered paintings. She also makes drawings and watercolors. Her art has been shown in many places around the world, including the US, Europe, and Australia.

About Jessica Rankin's Life

Jessica Rankin comes from a family of artists and writers. Her father, David Rankin, is also an artist. Her mother, Jennifer Rankin, was a poet and playwright. Jessica's step-mother, Lily Brett, is a well-known author and poet. Jessica shares her art studio with her partner, who is also an artist named Julie Mehretu.

Jessica Rankin's Artworks

Jessica Rankin's most famous art pieces are her 'embroidered paintings'. She uses embroidery and needlework on a special fabric called organdy. Her artworks often look like 'mental maps'. These maps use codes, signs, and symbols to explore ideas about memory, feelings, and how we understand things.

Famous Embroidered Pieces

Some of her important embroidered works include:

• Nocturne (made in 2004)
• Hour to Hour (made in 2007)
• Everything is Still There (made in 2005)
• Passage (Dusty Humming) (made in 2007)

The piece Passage (Dusty Humming) was special because it focused only on text. Most of her other works combine text with images.

Drawings and Watercolors

Besides embroidery, Jessica Rankin also creates beautiful drawings and watercolors. These pieces often show her creative process. You might see sketches of natural shapes, or abstract pictures of stars and moon cycles. Some of her drawings also show recognizable places.

In 2007, Jessica had her first art show in Europe at a gallery called White Cube in London. This show featured 88 of her drawings and watercolors. Some well-known works on paper include:

• Cloud & Sun (2003)
• San Miguel (2005)
• Word Construction (2005)
• Leaves (2006)
• Rockface (2006)
• Couple (2006)

Exhibitions by Jessica Rankin

Jessica Rankin has had many solo art shows where only her work was displayed. Here are some of them:

• 2007 White Cube, London, England
• 2006 The Measure of Every Pause, P.S. 1 Contemporary Arts Center, Long Island City, New York
• 2005 Franklin Artworks, Minneapolis, Minnesota
• 2004 The Project, New York, New York
• 1999 First Floor Gallery, Melbourne, Australia