June 14 - July 13, 2024
I Get My Hit And Then I Run With It | Jessika Edgar

Artist Statement
My research investigates the construction of individual identity as prescribed by societal notions of value and binaries. I pull reference material from popular culture ephemera and media imagery especially related to gender, beauty, and material desire. My sculptures and installations aim to re-create a feeling of cognitive dissonance, a psychological space that is simultaneously critical and indulgent. I think of the work as a reflection of my current head space, so it is, in a sense, autobiographical, and I use the work as an opportunity to position myself within the cultural climate of the moment. The work functions as a series of vignettes, marking a particular time in my life, a moment in culture, and how I am personally reacting and responding to societal pressures. 

This research manifests itself in the form of abstract ceramic sculptures that question the established hierarchy that places craft below art, and I work in an interdisciplinary mode that questions preconceived ideas of craft. I utilize “crafty” materials, not just clay, but mixed media that includes faux fur, acrylic pearls, Mod Podge, and glitter. In contrast to these commercially driven materials, I draw from a long history of sculptural abstraction. I explore representation through the idea of formlessness. Formlessness can be used to describe an object that is mobile or fluid enough to evade classification and meaning.

This work is made possible through the University Research Grant, Office of the Provost, Wayne State University and Guldagergaard: International Ceramic Research Center, Skælskør, Denmark.

Artist Bio
Jessika Edgar is a ceramic artist based in Metro Detroit. Her research focuses on concepts related to identity and value through an investigation in contemporary craft and sculptural abstraction. Raised in both Western Massachusetts and Southern California, Jessika has an MFA in Ceramics from Cranbrook Academy of Art, an MA in Studio Art and BA in Studio Art from California State University Northridge.

Jessika has exhibited nationally and internationally. Her work has been featured in exhibitions at The Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for the Arts, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, RI, Ceramic Research Center and Brickyard Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur, India, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX and Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and Gyeonggi Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, Rep. of Korea. She has been awarded residencies at Guldagergaard: International Ceramic Research Center, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Wassaic Projects, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, A.I.R. Vallauris, and the Vermont Studio Center.

Inventory

Leave Nothing To The Imagination
Ceramic, ribbon, metal rings
2021
NFS

Cocked Out
Ceramic, tulle, fabric
​2024

Ski School Cool
Ceramic, fabric, yarn
2021
NFS

Sporty Spice Has Nothing On Me
Ceramic, tulle, fabric, beads
2021
NFS

Gaga for Gingham
Ceramic, gingham fabric, nylon straps, metal sliders
NFS

Dancer In A Daydream
Ceramic, ribbon, Swarovski crystals
2021
NFS

Ready for Anything
Ceramic, assorted fabric, plastic buckle
2021
NFS

Veiled Lady
Ceramic, tulle, Swarovski crystals
2021
NFS

Pick Me
Ceramic, assorted fabric
2021
NFS

My FUPA Is Bigger Than Yours
Ceramic, tulle, stool
2024