Jess Larson
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Associate Professor of Studio Art
University of Minnesota Morris, BA 1992
University of Colorado, Boulder, MFA 1995
Contact Info:
Office: HFA 131
Phone: (320) 589-6247
E-mail: larsonje@morris.umn.edu
Courses Taught:
ArtS 1101 and 1102 Basic Studio Drawing
ArtS 1103 Basic Studio 2-D Design
ArtS 1104 Basic Studio 3-D Design
ArtS 1105 and 1106 Basic Studio Discussion
ArtS 2500 Photgraphy
ArtS 3005 Digital Imaging |
Biography
A graduate of UMM in 1992, Jess Larson completed her graduate
degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder and has been teaching
at Morris since 1995. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally
in various group and solo shows, including the 1999 Spoletto Piccolo
Festival and the Jerome Book Arts Exhibition at the Minnesota Center
for the Book Arts, and the Governors Palace in Tlaxcala, Mexico.
Artist Statment
From 1992-2001, my artwork featured forms mixing botanical and feminine
imagery with handmade girdle and corset structures to address issues
of sexuality, attraction and seduction moderated by cultural mores
and biological standards. These recontextualized girdles are designed
to subvert their original purpose to constrict and confine from
underneath and become bold and sometimes absurd statements about
defining a contemporary sexual allure. Slipping between the often-rigid
boundaries of categories used to define sexual protocols, these
new girdles transformed into a humorous, yet edgy, commentary about
female sexuality.
While I had been conceptually intrigued that these undergarments
act as a direct analogy for the female body, I also dedicated attention
to the careful drawing-like studies of patterns created with beaded
marks, stitched lines, knots, and the repetition of sculptural alterations.
Photographic images mounted onto and into the surface of the cloth
have broadened the narrative depth of the piece with fragments of
faces and other objects. Ultimately, the sum of details act to attract
the viewer to engage with the work on a more intimate level and
encounter that tension of being close in proximity to something
still recognizable as underwear.
In 2001, my interests broadened to include to the surface qualities
of the decaying fruit, Lover's Eye Portraits and to collecting small
formal photographic portraits of women from the early turn of the
last century. It was a perfect compliment to a longstanding fascination
with the Victorian sensibility about collecting, morbidity, portraiture,
and fashion. I have continued to work in general themes of sexuality,
gender and romantic customs, but have narrowed the conceptual base
to focus specifically on the dual roles in courtship--the lover
and the beloved. By contrast, my choice of materials has expanded
to include plaster, oil and encaustic pigments.
I was able to unite these themes visually by mimicking chalkware
made during the 1940-1950's with more intricate compositions of
rotten fruit forms. Chalkware was a popular decorative item of the
mid 20th century, usually depicting flowers, fruit, animals, etc.,
in bright cheery colors and whimsical arrangements. Formally, there
is beauty in the unique way that a fruit item decomposes due to
environment, temperature, fragility of the fruit skin, or hidden
damage done to it while it was still considered a viable food item.
Conceptually, I am still exploring similar themes of romance and
attraction, but the rotting fruit symbolizes a pent up, mislaid
focus of emotion to the point of remaining too long in an interior
state and consumes the bearer in a humid, static and ultimately
rotting state. I am fascinated by the tension inherent in one's
inability to initiate movement, and this dark edginess would conflict
with the quaintness of traditional chalkware. At present, I have
created more than 30 molds of varying sizes and cast over 300 pieces
that were painted to look like the rotting fruit and had small images
of women’s eyes (each different) mounted in recessed areas
on the plaster. I display my chalkware much like you might find
an item in a kitchen, but the excessive numbers of them creates
a higher visual presence that might go unnoticed in a domestic setting.
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