Spark Artist

Sculpture

Jess Perlitz makes sculptures, performances, installations and public art. The work considers how bodies negotiate physical space and social structures, using scale, absurdity and vulnerability to disrupt expectations and explore the sometimes contradictory ways we seek connection and make meaning. Born in Toronto, Canada, Perlitz received a BA from Bard College, an MFA from Tyler School of Art, and trained in the Pochinko Technique of clowning at the Manitoulin Center for Creation and Performance. She is Associate Professor of Art and Head of Sculpture at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, where she also co-directs the EAR Forest, an experimental sound installation and research site. Perlitz was also a co-director of the recent Portland's Monuments & Memorials Project and has been involved in public conversations about monuments, collective memory and the role of artists in civic life. Perlitz has received numerous awards, including an American Academy of Arts and Letters purchase award, the Oregon Arts Commission's Joan Shipley Award, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant and a 2019 Hallie Ford Fellowship. Her work is held in the collections of the Portland Art Museum and Boise Art Museum. Recent solo exhibitions include Studio e Gallery in Seattle, Anderson Gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and Holding Contemporary in Portland. Her installation Chorus, developed through collaborations with incarcerated individuals across the United States, is installed at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site in Philadelphia as part of the site's ongoing artist installation series.