Biography

Jackie Head grew up in Indianapolis, IN where her interest in ceramics began in high school. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, with an emphasis in Ceramics, and a Bachelor of Science in Arts Management from Indiana University Bloomington in December 2014. In the summer of 2014, Jackie had the opportunity to study abroad in China and worked at the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen. During her three-week stay, she began her exploration in creating slipcast wall tiles and working with pattern. She pursued art residencies at The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, MT, and the Morean Center for Clay in St. Petersburg, FL prior to completing her MFA in Ceramic Art in 2022 at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, NY. She currently lives in Indianapolis, IN where she maintains a private studio.

Curriculum vitae

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Image courtesy of Paige O’Toole.


Artist Statement

I create wall installations crafted from slipcast porcelain components that are designed utilizing a myriad of pattern making methods. These installations are reminiscent of wall tapestries, mandalas, quilts, tiles, and wallpaper. The inspiration is rooted both in nature and the domestic setting. In the most exhilarating of installations, I create large scale, site specific pieces. Made up of hundreds of small units, these immersive environments envelop the viewer in a dreamscape that allows them to melt away from reality and float into fantasy.  

Without a doubt, play is at the core of my work. As we grow into adulthood, we are pressured to be more serious and focused in order to be successful. When developing patterns and shapes, I am playing and creating puzzles and problems for myself to solve. I am the creator of my own organized chaos by developing intricate systems, grids, patterns, and shapes. The time spent designing in my practice is when I feel most free and at play. Capturing a sense of play, slipcast components are splashed methodically all over the wall.

For many years, the slipcast wall installations were created as a respite from the chaos of the world that surrounds me. These wall installations are layered in an abundance of dualities and cause the viewer to examine these opposing forces through a dualistic lens. Without pain, one cannot have joy. While much of my work in the past was pursued to process trauma, wonder and delight emerged. It was a way of taking pain and turning it into pleasure. Partly through this experience, and a combination of other factors, I have been able to flip the switch. I was making the work to keep myself busy, thinking that the studio practice was the distraction. But now I am able to recognize that the pain that I thought was propelling my work was in fact the distraction, and that the studio is where the attention lives.  

With my work, I am performing an opposite action. I have made work for so long as a way of distracting myself. Putting pleasure into the world instead of pain. These works are created with the intention of creating a respite, a place in the universe for one to be quiet and allow themselves the space to listen. Listen to themselves, connect with who they are at their core. The works are an amalgamation of fantasy landscape, our natural world, and sensual exploration. 

Poet Mary Oliver wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” The eye-catching colors, compositions, and scale of the pieces draws the attention of the viewer, and with time they are rewarded by the surprises and complexities that lie within the work. The forms in the installations are reminiscent of experiences in our pasts, allowing our imaginations to drift into a moment of reverie. This devotion to experiencing the work is rewarded with sinking down to the core of ourselves and allowing our thoughts to transcend. The longer you stay with the work, the deeper you are able to go, finding your own connections to the colors and forms employed. The art of noticing is rewarded within the work with subtle glaze drips squeezed between crevices, both delicious and naughty.