Artist Statement
Wood is an ideal medium for me. Formerly a living organism, it is constructed of cells that, even after being cut and dried, continue to respond to the environment. Wood expands and contracts with varying levels of humidity. It turns darker, lighter, or changes colors depending on its exposure to light. Wood is deeply entwined in our lives. Despite being replaced by plastic and steel in numerous instances, it continues to be the medium from which we create many of the objects we use in our everyday lives. Tables where we eat, chairs that support us, beds where we sleep, even our homes are still built of former trees. Wood, and the objects we create from it, have a physicality and a relationship to our bodies and our lives that lend themselves to be metaphors for us, our social and political idiosyncrasies and, in particular, our role in nature.
Jim Jacobs was the 2020 Rocky Mountain Biennial Grand Prize Winner at the Museum of Art Fort Collins. Jim Jacobs was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting from Jacksonville University, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from East Carolina University. From 1985 to 2015 he was a professor of visual art at Weber State University in Ogden, UT.
