Jessica Stockholder facts for kids

Jessica Stockholder, Lay of the Land, Installation view; orange plastic shopping baskets, driveway mirrors, oriental carpet, wooden stools, acrylic paint, pendant lights and bulbs, hardware; 275 x 345 x 350 cm; Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2019.

Jessica Stockholder (born in 1959) is a Canadian-American artist. She is famous for her unique art installations and sculptures. People often call her works "paintings in space." Her art became well-known in the early 1990s. She creates huge artworks that mix with the room they are in. Her art often uses bright colors, different textures, and everyday objects. These works can cover floors, walls, and ceilings. Sometimes, they even spill out of the exhibition rooms!

Art experts say her work is inspired by many art styles. These include abstract expressionism (art that shows feelings with colors and shapes), color field painting (large areas of solid color), minimalism (simple art), and Pop art (art using popular culture). From the start, her art has shown a sense of freedom. She embraces unexpected moments and doesn't focus on making art that lasts forever or is just for money.

Stockholder's art has been shown in many famous places. These include the Dia Art Foundation, Centre Pompidou, and Whitney Museum of American Art. Her works are also part of collections in museums worldwide. Some of these are the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the British Museum. She has won many awards, like the Guggenheim Fellowship. Jessica Stockholder lives in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. She moved there in 2024 after retiring from teaching at the University of Chicago.

Becoming an Artist: Early Life and Training

Jessica Stockholder was born in Seattle in 1959. She grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Her parents were English professors. When she was a teenager, she took drawing lessons. Her teacher was sculptor Mowry Baden, a friend of her father's. She later studied formally with him at the University of Victoria. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1982.

Her early studies focused on painting. However, she started to explore new ways of making art. She went beyond just painting on a flat canvas. She began using objects, boundaries, and parts of buildings in her art. These ideas are still important in her work today. For example, in 1983, she created Installation in My Father's Backyard. This artwork used painted objects attached to her father's garage. It included a mattress, a cupboard door, and even a patch of painted grass.

In 1983, Stockholder went to Yale University. She studied with famous artists like Judy Pfaff and Mel Bochner. She earned her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1985. Her art at Yale was often temporary. It blurred the lines between the artwork and the building it was in. After graduating, she moved to Brooklyn. She became well-known in the late 1980s. Her art was shown in galleries like PS1 and the Whitney Museum.

Sharing Her Art and Teaching

Jessica Stockholder has also helped organize art shows. She has curated several exhibitions of her own art and others' works. These shows have taken place in different museums and galleries. For example, she co-curated "The Jewel Thief" at the Tang Museum in 2010.

Besides making art, Stockholder has also been a teacher. From 1999 to 2011, she was a director and professor at Yale University. She taught graduate students in sculpture. From 2011 to 2018, she led the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. She retired from teaching in 2024.

Awards and Museum Collections

Jessica Stockholder has received many important awards. These include a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996. She also won the Lucelia Artist Award from the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2007. Other awards came from Anonymous Was A Woman and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She has also received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Canada Council. In 2011, she was chosen to be part of the National Academy of Design. She also received honorary doctorate degrees from two art colleges.

Her artworks are held in many public collections. You can find her art in major American museums. These include MoMA, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Whitney Museum. Her work is also in international collections. Some of these are the British Museum, the Centraal Museum, and the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. In 2021, her work was part of the "Women in Abstraction" exhibition at the Centre Pompidou.