Jody MacDonald
Medium: Mixed Media Studio Location: Radiator Studios - Studio# 3 43-36 10th Street Email: talk.to.me.jody@gmail.com Website:: www.jodymacdonald.ca Artist Bio: MacDonald attended the bealart program in London, ON, Canada (1986-89) where she double-majored in textiles and printmaking. Continuing her studies in Vancouver, BC, Canada she focused on sculpture, performance, and installation, graduating with a diploma in Studio (1996) and a BFA in Visual Arts (2011) from Emily Carr University. Currently an object maker, MacDonald's art practice challenges concepts of identity, stereotype, and social dynamics. Her work is characterized by dark humor, multiples, and an obsessive attention to detail. MacDonald's meticulously crafted artwork has been exhibited in galleries and artist-run centers across Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia) and the U.S. (New York, Massachusetts). Her works on paper and sculptures have been collected by patrons throughout Ontario, British Columbia and New York. In July of 2014, she moved her home and studio from Vancouver, BC to Long Island City, NY and is pleased to be practicing in the artist community at Radiator Studios on 10th Street. Artist Statement: When I was five or six years old I possessed a one-piece, herringbone-patterned, butt-flap bottomed Dr. Denton pajama in two-tone green. Wearing my pj's I would go down to my family's partly finished basement and I would quietly and patiently maneuver in the way I'd watched praying mantises move: slowly rotating my head, arms crooked and legs bent, occasionally swaying gently from side to side. Suddenly I would spot my unsuspecting prey and seize it violently with my spiked forearms, attacking it with my mandibles. Yes, that was me. Chewing on a pillow grasped between my hands and forearms, performing very precise choreographed movements based on what I had obsessively observed. Performing not in front of an audience - just for myself. If I would have been an extrovert I might have ended up as an actor on the stage or screen. As an introvert I studied fine art and developed a practice where I still compulsively try on what I observe in the world and replicate it through a fastidiously crafted cast of 2-D and 3-D characters. All images and text copyright Jody MacDonald