artist biography
Born in the skeletal landscape of Southern Utah, nicholas b jacobsen was raised in a devout Mormon family. The drama of the high desert landscape, childhood trauma, and the mysticism of Mormonism shaped his worldview.
He graduated, in 2012, with a BFA from Southern Utah University, where he studied ceramic pottery. He then moved to Omaha, Nebraska to work with international artist Jun Kaneko. There, he began making hyper-organized installations of detritus found in the space they are displayed, exploring ways of working with, learning from, and talking about place and our relationships to it. He then moved to Philadelphia where he continued to work with detritus through photography, video, and sculpture, the works becoming more personal with a rich quietness. He now lives in Albuquerque, in the uncannily familiar high desert to pursue an M.F.A. in Art & Ecology at the University of New Mexico. Here he explores the nature/culture dichotomy as a locus of falsity, queering common ideologies of "nature," and challenging the narrative of inevitability.
nicholas was one of Omaha World Herald’s “Five Artists to Watch,” published in Things Organized Neatly and The Alibi, and won two Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards for Emerging Artist and New Media Artist, and assisted organizing the symposium the last oil.
He graduated, in 2012, with a BFA from Southern Utah University, where he studied ceramic pottery. He then moved to Omaha, Nebraska to work with international artist Jun Kaneko. There, he began making hyper-organized installations of detritus found in the space they are displayed, exploring ways of working with, learning from, and talking about place and our relationships to it. He then moved to Philadelphia where he continued to work with detritus through photography, video, and sculpture, the works becoming more personal with a rich quietness. He now lives in Albuquerque, in the uncannily familiar high desert to pursue an M.F.A. in Art & Ecology at the University of New Mexico. Here he explores the nature/culture dichotomy as a locus of falsity, queering common ideologies of "nature," and challenging the narrative of inevitability.
nicholas was one of Omaha World Herald’s “Five Artists to Watch,” published in Things Organized Neatly and The Alibi, and won two Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards for Emerging Artist and New Media Artist, and assisted organizing the symposium the last oil.
artist statement
As an artist/researcher I try to understand this human/nature tension. Through tongue-in-cheek critique and empathetic subversion, I question our foundational assumptions about the natural world and our relationships with and place within it. I connect these assumptions to ideas about the supposed naturalness of masculinity, white supremacy, and capitalism--the foundations of American culture. Overall I am an amateur--an armchair philosopher and student of the humanities.
The resultant ongoing body of works is an entanglement of performance, text, digital collage, video, community engagement, and installation. My research is slow, embodied, and place-based, emphasizing the time it takes to develop a lasting, visceral understanding of something. To limit my material consumption and production, my materials and tools are sourced from seemingly inevitable parts of my life--my phone and computer, the senses, detritus, the lands, community, collective and personal histories, etc. I seek connection and understanding with the discomfort of living, especially in this ecologically and socially troubling time. In this pursuit, I am nourished by the works of Pema Chödrön, Ana Mendieta, bell hooks, and Donna Haraway.
Through this questioning of value, I want others to come away with an open, ongoing, multisensorial awareness of themself and the more-than-human world they are submerged within.
[1] Shunryu Suzuki - Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
[2] Claire Pentecost - Beyond Face
The resultant ongoing body of works is an entanglement of performance, text, digital collage, video, community engagement, and installation. My research is slow, embodied, and place-based, emphasizing the time it takes to develop a lasting, visceral understanding of something. To limit my material consumption and production, my materials and tools are sourced from seemingly inevitable parts of my life--my phone and computer, the senses, detritus, the lands, community, collective and personal histories, etc. I seek connection and understanding with the discomfort of living, especially in this ecologically and socially troubling time. In this pursuit, I am nourished by the works of Pema Chödrön, Ana Mendieta, bell hooks, and Donna Haraway.
Through this questioning of value, I want others to come away with an open, ongoing, multisensorial awareness of themself and the more-than-human world they are submerged within.
[1] Shunryu Suzuki - Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
[2] Claire Pentecost - Beyond Face
curriculum vitae
nicholas b jacobsen
nicholas.b.jacobsen@gmail.com | nicholasbjacobsen.com
EDUCATION
University of New Mexico
M.F.A. Graduate Student 2017-Current
Art & Ecology
Southern Utah University
B.F.A in Studio Art 2009-2012
Ceramics
Dixie State College
Associate of Science 2001-2009
EXHIBITIONS
2018
Two-Person | John Sommers Gallery | Albuquerque, NM
in which they bathe with jellyfish
Juried | UNM Art Museum | Albuquerque, NM
HereNOW
2017
CFA Downtown | Albuquerque, NM
At First Sight
2016
KANEKO | Omaha, NE
OEAA Visual Art Nominee Showcase
2015
Michael Phelps Gallery, W. Dale Clark Library | Omaha, NE
Public Public
Petshop North Gallery | Omaha, NE
MIXTAPE
Solo | Petshop Gallery | Omaha, NE
watching the ground
Installation of works composed of various discarded materials from Kaneko Studio.
Solo | Project Project | Omaha, NE
reconsider
Arranged remnants of a plumbing company, which once occupied the space, into an organized, imperfectly symmetrical installation
Centerylink Center | Omaha, NE
communication
2014
Michael Phelps Gallery, W. Dale Clark Library | Omaha, NE
2014 Survey: Omaha Artists
Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts | Omaha, NE
Flock House Inhabitants
Gallery 72 | Omaha, NE
Prospect
Solo | Bemis Center for Contemporary Art | Flockhouse | Omaha, NE
flock house arranged
Objects left for the inhabitants to use were neatly put into a pattern on the floor.
Solo | Outside | Omaha, NE
come with nothing, leave everything
Discarded objects found and arranged in abandoned lot.
Gallery 72 | Omaha, NE
Gang of Five
2013
Sally D. Francisco Gallery | Peters Valley Craft Center | Layton, NJ
Riding the Wave: 30 years of Peters Valley Anagama
2012
Solo | The Grind | Cedar City, UT
free to a good home
Pottery completed post-baccalaureate stay at Southern Utah University
Braithwaite Gallery | Southern Utah University | Cedar City, UT
B.F.A. Exhibition
Braithwaite Gallery | Southern Utah University | Cedar City, UT
Earth Day
2011
Sally D. Francisco Gallery | Peters Valley Craft Center | Layton, NJ
Faculty and Assistant Exhibition
Moscow Clay Works | Scranton, PA
Unabridged
2010
Rogue Gallery | Cedar City, UT
Debut
2009
Braithwaite Gallery | Southern Utah University | Cedar City, UT
Student Exhibition
ARTICLES | REVIEWS
Michael J. Krainak | “ExtrA! ExtrA!”
The Reader | January 2016 | www.thereader.com/story/extra_extra 2016
Casey Logan | “Art notes...”
Omaha World Herald | September 2015 | http://www.omaha.com/go/art-notes-
petshop-exhibit-features-artist-s-arrangements-of-found/article_82a20732-3727
-5500-9710-9e467047ff5f.html 2015
Kim Carpenter | “Five to Watch”
Inspired Living Omaha | September-October 2015 | p. 50-51 2015
Austin Radcliffe | Nicholas Jacobsen, Reconsider, at Project Project
Things Organized Neatly | Blog | thingsorganizedneatly.tumblr.com 2015
AWARDS | HONORS
Best New Media Artist
Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards 2015
Best Emerging Artist
Omaha Entertainment and Arts Awards 2015
RELATED EXPERIENCE
Surface and Architecture Workshop | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Plasterer and Fabricator 2016 - 2017
Jun Kaneko Studio | Omaha, Nebraska
Artist’s Assistant 2012 - 2015
Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts | Maplecrest, NY
Teaching Assistant Summer 2012
Southern Utah University | Cedar City, Utah
Teaching Assistant 2010 - 2012
Peter’s Valley Craft Center | Layton, New Jersey
Studio Assistant Summer 2011
