Jessica Jackson Hutchins


Jessica Jackson Hutchins is an American artist from Chicago, Illinois who is based in Portland, Oregon. Her practice consists of large scale ceramics, multi-media installations, assemblage, and paintings all of which utilize found objects such as old furniture, ceramics, worn out clothes, and newspaper clippings. She is most recognizable for her sloppy craft assemblages of furniture and ceramics. Her work was selected for the 2010: Whitney Biennial, featured in major art collections, and has been exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, in Iceland, the UK, and Germany.

Life and work

Jessica Jackson Hutchins received a BA in Art History from Oberlin College, graduating Cum Laude. In 1997 she finished a Post-Baccalaureate degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She went on to receive an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1999. Though she was in the Painting and Drawing Department, she produced very little paintings as she preferred to work in wire and papier-mâché. Hutchins studied under and was influenced by Susanne Doremus and Gaylen Gerber.
Her use of every day objects has evolved over the years based on her surroundings. In college, she incorporated beer bottles and packaging. After college, coffee cups appeared in her work. After becoming a mother, she included her children's worn-out clothing. Motherhood and her children have become some of the most influential factors in her work. Much of Hutchin's work is about the domestic sphere and human interaction with forms acting as substitutions for the human form. The furniture pieces used in her work were once in her own home.
The Portland Mercury reported in September 2006 that "her ceramics, papier-mâché sculptures, and collages share a crass aesthetic and a preoccupation with the thin line between disaster and success that disguise a genuine attempt to convey ideas about communion, fear, and loneliness." Her show at Reed College's Caseworks drew similar analysis.
Hutchins moved to Berlin in 2011 and returned to making paintings and wall-hung assemblages, having brought almost no materials with her. The paintings utilized everyday household objects such as folding chairs and china plates juxtaposed with transparent linen stretched over window-like frames.
Jessica Jackson Hutchins was included in the 2013 Venice Biennial by curator Massimiliano Gioni. In summer 2016, she was selected by artist and curator Michelle Grabner to participate in the 2016 Portland Biennial.

Personal life

Hutchins is married to former Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus. They have two children, Lottie and Sunday.

Exhibitions

2016

Hutchins's work is included in the collections of: