The focus of Jodi Reeb’s artwork has always been about the beauty of nature and finding inspiration from nature’s extraordinary colors, light, and shapes. Although primarily a painter, Jodi has recently begun creating sculptures that reflect some of the shapes, lines, and textures she finds in nature. Her Project Space grant has allowed her to explore new materials and new spaces in which to create free-form assemblages and sculptures that explore the qualities of nature that feeds her with artistic creativity.

For her Project Space exhibition, Emergence, Jodi has filled the gallery with  a series of sculptures and site-specific installations. Jodi originally began working with the concepts she explores in Emergence during a workshop she attended four years ago, where she’d construct a temporary installation, then tear it down, every morning and afternoon. “I became intrigued with the idea of place and site-specific artworks, and ideas about economy of means as I worked through each installation using materials such as wire, tape, string, and newsprint,” she says. “I also became interested in the idea of the three-dimensional line, mark-making objects, and creating shadows on the wall. The Project Space grant has allowed me to take time out of my schedule to fully experiment with these ideas and bring them to fruition.”

For her show, Jodi has created sculptures and site-specific art installations throughout the gallery that depict organic forms found in nature. In this way she seeks to experiment with new materials that are wall pieces and artworks suspended from the ceiling and on the floor. She has used materials that have the ability to mimic nature such as tubing, tape, wax, and wire that have been transformed into works that resemble branches or seed-pods.

Jodi has been a full-time artist and teacher for over 20 years.  She has taught printmaking, acrylic and encaustic painting as well as book arts. She is a CORE instructor for R&F Handmade Paints and is a GOLDEN Acrylic Paints Artist Educator. Jodi’s artwork has been shown nationally and is in many private and corporate collections including Target Corporation, United Health Care Group, Hilton Hotel in Minneapolis, and Wells Fargo Mortgage in Minneapolis. She was the recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant in 2018.  Jodi graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design (MCAD) where she instructed printmaking for almost a decade.