Michele Jaquis

Michele Jaquis is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and academic administrator based in Los Angeles, CA. Her work has been exhibited in alternative spaces, galleries, museums and film/video festivals across the US and in Australia, Canada, Ireland, England, New Zealand and South Korea. Awards include Best Documentary Short and Best Editing Nominations in the 2019 REEL HeArt International Film and Screenwriting Festival in Toronto, Canada, a Spring 2018 Sabbatical and 2022, 2021, 2016, 2014, and 2011 Faculty Development Grants from Otis College of Art and Design, 2009 Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant, 2009 Voice Award Nomination sponsored by the United States Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and Best Documentary in the 2008 Director’s Chair Film Festival in Staten Island, NY.  She has been featured in KCET Southland Sessions: “How Can I Teach Art in a Pandemic?”, Voyage LA and Artlines Summer 2019 Edition.

Jaquis holds an MFA in sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design, a BFA in sculpture and experimental studio with a minor in psychology from Hartford Art School, University of Hartford and also studied at Brown University and Burren College of Art. She is also an alumni of the Institute for Jewish Creativity and Asylum Arts’ Reciprocity Retreat. Currently Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies at Otis College of Art and Design, Jaquis oversees all undergraduate minors while engaging students in collaborating with each other and various community partners.

Artist Statement:
Trained in the expanded field of sculpture I combine strategies of conceptual art, documentary and social practice. Through long term projects utilizing a range of media, my work examines the complexities within personal, social and political relationships, identity, language and communication. All of this is informed by my belief that most conflicts arise out of fear generated by a lack of knowing, understanding and communicating with “the other,” whomever that may be. I often facilitate situations in which I am in conversation with, learning from, and collaborating with people who are different than I am, whether generationally, culturally, linguistically, developmentally or neurologically. Simultaneously I maintain an independent studio practice for which it is conceptually important that I alone do the labor the work requires. For me, the physical, social and emotional processes of making art are just as important as what is ultimately made.