About

(b. Omaha, NE, 1987) Jess Machacek’s work explores the space between the natural and the constructed. Using familiar materials drawn from domestic, commercial, and suburban environments, she creates sculptural and image-based works that blur the boundaries between landscape, architecture, and everyday life. Machacek is interested in the ways we manufacture ideas of beauty, leisure, and nature– and the nostalgia embedded within those constructions. Through playful combinations of color, texture, and material, her work embraces the tension between sincerity and artifice, inviting viewers to reconsider the ordinary environments we inhabit. 

She received an MFA in Studio Art (University of Georgia, 2015) and BFA in Printmaking (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2011). 

 Machacek is a curator for ArtLifting and is currently based in Fort Worth (TX). She has exhibited work both nationally and internationally. Previous residencies include HyperCultural Passengers Connectivity Tables Project (DE), Visiting Artist and Scholar at Columbus State University (GA), Vermont Studio Center (VT), The Wassaic Project (NY), Frans Masereel Centrum (BE), and The Santa Reparata International School of Art (IT).