Jessica Merchant is a multimedia artist living in Madison, WI. A product of academia, intergenerational learning, and the rural Midwest, she is well-practiced in drawing, painting, printmaking, textiles, bookbinding, and sculpture. Drawing on these skills, Jessica creates contemplative works meant to evoke in the viewer emotions and sensations experienced by the artist during her creative process. Using her medium’s inherent qualities as a guide, she combines play and methodical process to manipulate familiar and perishable materials, creating images and objects that demonstrate the flexibility, mutability, and endless expressive potential of the ordinary.
Through this work, she invites viewers to consider their own relationships with and enjoyment of the rich physical world around them. Jessica has exhibited in the United States, internationally, and completed residencies at Vermont Studio Center and Penland School of Craft. A graduate of UW-Madison with an MFA in printmaking, Jessica is currently a member of SGC International and Vox Populi Print Collective.