December 2022 Unicorn Of The Month: Jodi Hays

Jodi's exhibition at Night Gallery, July 2022. Images courtesy of Night Gallery and Marten Elder

Due to some technical issues with the blog format here on Google, I am a few days behind schedule. Seriously, what going on with you guys? It's just a blogging platform. It's not like I use tons of bandwidth or host live streaming.

Anyhow, now that is has been fixed <knock on wood> here is the incredible work of art powerhouse Jodi Hays!

1. Tell me about you as a person. The name in which you prefer to go by. Where are you based? What are your origins, where are you from, etc.?

I go by Jodi Hays and I am based in Nashville, Tennessee. I am from across the river in Arkansas. All my family lives there, with only a few exceptions (me being one).

2. How long have you been practicing art professionally, when did you consider yourself a real artist?

I suppose I considered myself an artist when I was exhibiting outside of academic expectations.

3. Did you go to art school? Tell me about your training, formal and informal.

My training is formal. I went to art school (SVA) for Foundations, finished with a BFA in Drawing at the University of Tennessee, and earned my MFA from Vermont College of Fine Art. I also studied for a summer at The Cooper Union.

4. What is the medium(s) that you prefer to work in and why? 

I make collaged paintings from paper, cardboard, dye, fabric and textiles. I spent years threading the needle of painting, and the materials I use I push towards that same conversation.

5. Who are some of your art inspirations? What are some of your non-art inspirations?

I find a consistent voice that I subsume in the poetry of the late CD Wright. There are too many art inspirations to name, so I’ll mention who/what I am looking at or reading this month; Virginia Overton, Louise Bourgeois's Woven Child, Leeza Meskin’s Turret Tops, and Jack Whitten’s Wood Shed.

6. When do you know when a work is finished?

If a work hangs around too long in the studio, I’ll rework it.

7. Tell me about your process when working. Do you listen to music or do any rituals to get yourself ready to make art?

I stay ready. My studio is in my back yard. Years ago I made it a point to get lists, images, titles ready for when I needed to make the work. I am not a hang-around-in-the-studio kind of person. Never was. I don’t listen to any music on purpose, just a local radio station or NPR.

8. What are the meanings and the concepts behind this particular body of work?

The work I am showing at Inglett (Dec 2022) is in conversation with Michi Meko’s dark and brilliant take on the genre of landscape. James Baldwin calls home an “irrevocable condition” more than a place. The works in the show are taking landscape as a condition.

9.What are your biggest goals as a visual artist? And what has been your proudest moment professionally?

It has taken immense fortitude, dreaming, acting, discipline, work, self-care, and patience. Becoming who I am, in a world where there were not models for it, has shown me who I am. And for that, I am proud.

10. What do you want viewers would take away from your work?

This one is HARD. I try not to have expectations of viewers, even when I have them for the work. I am always excited when I see a show that makes me want to get back to the studio. So, maybe that, for others. A sense that seeing work makes you want to go do your thing more, better.

Visit Jodi's Website and follow her on IG to view more of her fabulous work. And if you're in New York between now and January 28, 2023, visit the Inglett Gallery for her dual exhibition with Michi Meko.