Aerial Evergreen

2008

American, born 1971

Jessica Jackson Hutchins sculpts various fragments of landscapes and reminds us that our sense of place is also defined by community. Through organic forms and her use of clay as sculptural material, Hutchins expresses her intimacy with nature—at times her sculptures even become vessels to hold nature, as in Bowl for Pomegranate Seeds and Ash Cup. In Angel’s Rest, she alludes to a scenic bluff on the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon where she has hiked. Hutchins’ images are intimate and subtle, and reveal how her work is connected to everyday experience. In a prior installation of these sculptures, Hutchins hosted a dinner party in which food was served on these abstracted landscapes and guests ate together around the table. Here, Hutchins chose to continue to exhibit these works on a table—an important conceptual gesture that reminds us of a communal gathering.

Ceramic

14 x 18 x 14in. (35.6 x 45.7 x 35.6cm)

Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art and Modern Art Acquisition Fund

2011.17.a

Provenance: The artist; [Laurel Gitlen Gallery, New York]; purchased from gallery by the Seattle Art Museum, 2011

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryNew York, New York, Laurel Gitlen Gallery, Are You with Me?, January 4 – February 8, 2009 (four of the six sculptures, not including Dandelion Pass and Angels Rest)

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Reclaimed: Nature and Place through Contemporary Eyes, June 30 – September 11, 2011

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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