Jacqueline Jrolf

Artist Statement

The sculptural works I create often take the form of humanized birds. Many cultures believe that the bird represents the soul or spirit of a person. The anthropomorphized forms that I sculpt represent a range of expressive gestures depicting among other things love, loss, angst or elation.

My creative process begins with finding a word or poem with which I can find resonance. I depict it by manipulating the clay without conscious editing: pinching, pulling, and pounding until a form emerges from the mass. This way of working is what I call my stream of consciousness technique. The following poem set me on the path to creating work with the avian theme and was the catalyst for this newest body of work :

THAW
Edward Thomas 1878-1917
OVER the land half freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed,
And saw from elm-tops, delicate as a flower of grass,
What we below could not see, winter pass.

Poems are essential to the creation of my body of work. They act as conduit from my subconscious to my conscious mind. The words give me strength and comfort as I work in the clay, groping in the dark, trying to give form to feelings.

Most of my recent work has taken the form of the reliquary. I am fascinated by the sacred nature suggested by the format as well as by the mysterious, often lush, and secretive interior space. These reliquaries can be used to hold cremains, small mementos or memories. They also bridge the gap between the sculptural and functional form while imbuing the object with deep emotional content.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND OPPORTUNITIES

2008

Art Loft Presents NCECA Members Jacqueline Jrolf & Una Mjurka, Art Loft, Mt. Lebanon, PA

2nd Biennial Concordia Continental Ceramics Competition Concordia University, St.Paul, MN

2007

Small Rays of Hope-Fragments of a Larger Idea Rhonda Schaller Studio, NYC, NY [award]

Fete Picasso: Small Art Objects-Allumons Vallauris AIR Vallauris, Vallauris, France

Crossroads Rhonda Schaller Studio, New York, NY

Tactile Senses: Vulnerability in the Visual Arts: Clay, Fibers and Language sculpture included in a presentation at the International Symposium for the Arts in the Humanities at The American University in Paris and at The Symposium for the Arts In Society at New York University

Access: A Feminist Perspective Rhonda Schaller Studio, New York, NY

Faculty Art Show Delaware Art Museum

2006

Reliquaries, Ossuaries and Urns: Ceramic Sculptures of Jacqueline Jrolf Delaware Art Museum, Bank of America Education Wing, Wilmington, DE

Ceramic Teaching Tools for exhibition Raku to Ray Guns Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE

Poetry…A Notion curator, exhibitor, Clay College of Cumberland County College, Millville, NJ

2005

Tyler Ceramics Past and Present The Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia, PA

Celebrating Oyster: An Exhibition of Oyster Plates, Past and Present Clay College of Cumberland County College, Millville, NJ

Art Futures Artist in Residency program, Philadelphia Museum of Art

2004

Annual Faculty Show Ethel Sargent Clark Gallery, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

Annual Art Exhibition and Auction Tree House Animal Foundation, Chicago, IL

Art Partners Artist in Residency program, Philadelphia Museum of Art

2002

Faculty Exhibition Ethel Sargent Clark Gallery, Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA

1998

Annual Art Exhibition and Auction Abington Art Center Jenkintown, PA

1997

Lotsa Clay VII Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA

Memorial Tile Project, MANNA Philadelphia, PA

Lots of Teapots Artscape Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Annual Art Exhibition and Auction Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA

1996

Recent Works Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA

Invitational Clay Show Sisters’ Gallery, Sinking Spring, PA

Women in the Arts Benjamin Rush Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1995

Ceramic Alternatives ’95 Westby Art Gallery, Rowen University, Glassboro, NJ

Off The Wall Art Forms Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1994

Faculty Exhibition Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, PA

1993

Faculty Exhibition ’93 Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, PA

1992

Artists Choose Artists Mainline Art Center, Haverford, PA-Award

NCECA Regional Student Exhibition, Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

CCA Presents…LaSalle University, Philadelphia, PA

GROUP Gloucester Community College, Gloucester, NJ

MFA Thesis Exhibition Temple Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

1991

That American Woman Leo Feldman Gallery, Milwaukee, WI

EDUCATION

M.F.A. Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Elkins Park, PA

B.F.A. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Senior Honors

Study Abroad Program Cortona, Italy; University