Professor Of Studio Art – Painting & Drawing
With Pitzer Since: 2006
Phone: 909.607.8643
Educational Background:
BS, MA, MFA, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Jessica McCoy was born in Black River Falls, Wisconsin and studied art at the University of Wisconsin Madison, where she received her MA and MFA. She taught formerly at the Columbus College of Art in Columbus, Ohio and is currently Associate Professor of Art at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. Her work has been exhibited most recently at Verum Ultimum Gallery in Portland, Oregon and Greg Moon Gallery in Taos, New Mexico. Her work has been included in National Watercolor Society Exhibitions and California Watercolor Association National Exhibitions, and seen at the Amarillo Museum of Art and the Florida State University Museum of Fine Art. Her work is also included in the collections of the Woodbury Art Museum in Orem and the Porter Butts Gallery at the University of Wisconsin Madison. She has been awarded an Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Grant and artist residencies; at Ox-Bow, through the Art Institute of Chicago, and Contemporary Yunnan, in Kunming, China. Professor McCoy has completed public art projects with LA Metro in Los Angeles and King County Metro in Seattle.
Teaching Philosophy
My classroom is a place to explore ideas, share mistakes, and solve problems. We demystify art and art making; we learn that it is a technical and intellectual process. Through critique we can discover what makes the perspective of each person unique, which is the first step toward developing a strong and clear voice as an artist. Studying art is about learning to solve problems using materials, developing a new vocabulary for encountering the world, and heightening the skills of observation and craftsmanship. In the end it is about more than painting pictures, but being challenged to explore the everyday with a fresh and vital viewpoint.
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