- BRIEF BIO

- ARTIST'S STATEMENT

- ENAMEL, SOME ELEMENTS

- CAUTION ON THE NAME

- REVIEWS, MEDIA COVERAGE

- GALLERIES UPCOMING & CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

 - COPYRIGHT & PERMISSIONS

JC's LINKS

Thank you, all, for visiting.
The best way to contact me is to send an email.  Thank you.

Jessica Calderwood       EMAIL:   JC@JessicaCalderwood.com

GALLERY OWNERS, CURATORS:

If you are interested in reviewing my work for a future exhibition, please send me an email with your portfolio requirements. My images are available in slide form or CD.

Resume and more complete information follows in a password protected PDF file, necessary to maintain privacy. Contact me and I will email the password to you or send you the PDF directly.

Having a password, please click on the following file (PDF) to view my resume'  = RESUME'

BRIEF BIO
 

"Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Jessica Calderwood received her BFA from the Cleveland Institute of Art, with an emphasis in Enameling and Drawing.  After graduation, Jessica was accepted as a resident artist at the prestigious John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She spent three months working in the iron foundry experimenting with the artistic possibilities of cast iron and enamel. In the spring of 2005 Jessica received her MFA degree from Arizona State University. The exhibition consisted of mixed media installations, drawings and sculptures. Two of her installations were shown at SPACES Gallery for the exhibition Enamel: Beyond the Object, curated by Gretchen Goss. In 2005 Jessica was recipient of the Arizona Commission on the Arts professional development grant.

Calderwood’s artwork has been exhibited throughout the U.S. and Great Britain in juried and curated shows. Her metalwork has been featured in Metalsmith Magazine (cover image), as well as numerous enameling books. Most recently she has been working and teaching in the Tempe and Phoenix Arizona areas, and has been the artist-in-residence at the new Mesa Arts Center where she maintained a studio and taught numerous jewelry classes and workshops. In addition, she was an art instructor and taught various classes in art at several colleges in Arizona.

In 2008, she became a Visiting Professor in art at Kent State University, responsible for several classes for both graduate and under-graduate students, before leaving for full time teaching responsibilities in art at the University of Wisconsin - scheduled for late 2008."

 [back to page top]
 

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

"My work consists of drawings and sculptures that walk a fine line between the beautiful and the bizarre. Sex, gender, and human relationships are subjects that often permeate my work.  I use images and forms relating to the body in order to convey my ideas. Some of my drawings and forms are very literal interpretations, while others are more abstracted and ambiguous. I believe there is a tension surrounding attitudes about our own bodies and minds, which runs the gamut from admiration to disdain. My work reflects this aspect of the human condition."

                                                         Jessica Calderwood      

Enamel - some elements

    In general, an enameled piece lasts. Art that is fired onto steel or copper may last much longer than paint on canvass, and steel or copper do not rip or gouge. Glass fused to metal is generally not affected like paint might be. It does not break down over time, nor does it suffer much from the effects of light, sunlight, and so on. Durability is a quality, while it is certainly not indestructible. One may draw or paint in this medium, but the effects are different, sometimes startling, than one achieves with paint. No torn canvas, no pigments degrading, no fading, no mildew or mold to ruin a piece kept in storage, all of these distinguish enameling from painting.

Scissors, or Separation  (right)
8" x 6", enamel on copper
by Jessica Calderwood

Smoking Boy
12" x 12", enamel on copper

[back to page top]

CAUTION on the name,"Jessica Calderwood":  Interestingly, there are other artists by the name of Jessica Calderwood, so please make sure it is me. I certainly want no credit for anything that is not mine and I would not want others' work to be mistakenly ascribed to me. Please use the work and background information, such as my bio and the work that appears that you see here on my website, as reference points for me. Thanks.                     
                        
                                Jessica Calderwood                   

 [back to page top]

  Increasing national interest and recognition...       


 

"...many of the works exhibited here subvert the stereotype of enamel as an art of surface decoration or obsessive technique. A case in point is Jessica Calderwood's Organ II (on our cover), consisting of a sculptural volume with suggestive imagery rendered in a painterly fashion."
- - Suzanne Ramljak, Editor, Metalsmith Magazine

"Surprisingly, few artists applied enamels to three-dimensional forms, most likely a result of the skill required. Jessica Calderwood's forms feign anatomical structures, whose integrated imagery alludes to visceral and emotive inquiry."
- - Gretchen Goss & Maria Phillips, from the article "Enamel:  A Current Perspective" in Metalsmith Magazine.  

click, page detail

From PORTFOLIO, American Craft Magazine

Drips  Quote from Jessica as appeared in the magazine regarding Drips:

"Our attitudes about our bodies run the gamut from admiration to disdain. Drips reflects this by referring to anatomical structures that are at once beautiful and grotesque. Seeing the enamel drawings on the bottom of each 'drip' is an intimate experience, one quite different from observing the installation as a whole, in clusters."

For details and photos
of Drips, go to > Installations

HOME Page  |  Enamel Jewelry  |  Enamel Sculptures  |  Drawings  |  Art Installations  |  Art Collaborations  |  Art Commissions 
 Enamel Panels  |  Jessica's Links  |  Bio - Contact - Etc.  |  Galleries - Exhibits  |  Privacy Statement  |  Copyright Statement