Jessica Drenk
(USA, b. 1980)

Jessica Drenk’s work is an inquiry into materiality: what makes up the objects that surround us as well as the composition of the natural world. She is interested in how parts combine to create a whole and the intricacies of shape and texture found in the world on every scale. In treating everyday objects as raw material to sculpt, she practices a form of conceptual alchemy: through physically manipulating these objects their meanings become transmuted. Each piece is a direct response to material—a subversion of the meanings associated with it, and a reference to the life cycle of objects through time.

Private collection


In the Circulation series, coiled strips of book pages hint at the material connection between books and the wood pulp used to make them —a reminder of the circular life-cycle of materials and the connection between the natural and man-made worlds.

The sculptures in the Implements series are created by gluing thousands of pencils together and then sanding the outside of each form. In doing so, each piece exhibits a contrast between man-made geometry on the inside, and an outside evocative of natural shapes and textures. Interior and exterior have been reversed: inside the sculpture you see the outside of each pencil, while the interior of the pencils is revealed on the exterior surface of the piece.

Solo Shows

2019 Heather Gaudio Fine Art, New Canaan, CT
2018 Jessica Drenk: Regeneration, CYNTHIA-REEVES, Walpole
2018 “The Evocation of a Moment; A Gesture Jessica Drenk”, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2017 Jessica Drenk: Regeneration, CYNTHIA-REEVES, North Adams
2017 States of Matter, Galleri Urbane, Dallas
2015 Ad Infinitum, Galleri Urbane, marfa
2014 An Allegory of Algorithms and Aesthetics, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2012 Summer Exhibition, Paia Contemporary Gallery, Maui, Hawaii
2012 Jessica Drenk: Aggregates; Galleri Urbane, Dallas, Texas
2011 Cain Schulte Contemporary Art, San Francisco, CA
2011 Jessica Drenk, Riverworks Gallery, Greenville, SC
2010 Jessica Drenk: Materials and Balance”, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2010 Before, During, After, Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009 Jessica Drenk: Archaeologica, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
2009 Reading Our Remains, Smith Campus Center, Pomona College,Claremont,CA
2008 Compelling Matter, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2007 Jessica Drenk, Beard Arts Center, Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN
2007 MFA Exhibition, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2006 Jessica Drenk: The Turning World; Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 Imprints, Lionel Rombach Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2005 Reading Our Remains, Commissioned site-specific public art installation
2005 Jessica Drenk, Arizona Library, Tucson, AZ
2004 Curious Objects: An Installation by Jessica Drenk, Forum Gallery, Claremont, CA.
2002 Jessica, Drenk, Thesis Exhibition, Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA
2001 Remnants, POSA Gallery, Pomona College, Claremont, CA

Group Shows

2019 Bluerider ART, Taipei City, Taiwan
Carte Blanche, Studio Gallery, Washington DC
2018 Bread & Butter, Galleri Urbane, Dallas
2018 The East Cut Art Fair – San Francisco, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley
2017 Matters at Hand, Heather Gaudio Fine Art, New Canaan
2016 “Neo, Pop, Post, Figurative, Abstract…..Celebrating 5 Years”, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2016 Carte Blanche:, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2015 Art Silicon Valley San Francisco, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2015 Ten Years of Artists’ Books, Seager Gray Gallery
2015 Carte Blanche: Alicia, Olivia, Natalie and Kate, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2015 The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery
2014 Carte Blanche: Seth, Hannah and Schuyler, The Interns of Adah Rose Gallery curate the summer show, Adah Rose Gallery, Kensington
2014 The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery
2014 Women’s Work, Seager Gray Gallery
2011 Un-Speak-Able, The Art Center, Corvallis, OR
2011 Reconstructions, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2010 Aqua Art Miami, represented by Conrad Wilde Gallery, Miami Beach, FL
2010 Anderson Arts Center, Anderson, SC
2009 Catherine Person Gallery, Seattle, WA
2009 The Book: Wide Open, Business of Art Center, Manitou Springs, CO
2009 Continuum, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
2008 Penumbra, Gallery 825, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Book-Art Object 08, 25th of May Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
2008 Lana Santorelli Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Book Forms, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2007 She Objects II, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2006 International Sculpture Center’s 2006 Outstanding Student Achievement in
2006 Contemporary Sculpture Awards, Grounds For Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2006 Biennial Southwest, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
2006 Sheldon Swope Art Museum, Terre Haute, IN
2006 Art One Gallery, Phoenix, AZ
2006 Casa Libre, Tucson, AZ
2006 Art D’Art, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2005 Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
2005 8th International Book Fair of Contemporary Creative Books, Marseille, France
2005 Residual Pull, Dinnerware Contemporary Arts, Tucson, AZ
2005 Bound and Unbound, Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2005 Hayward Area Forum of the Arts, Hayward, CA
2005 Re-Visions III, Tohono Chul Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2005 Juried Show, Contents Interiors, Tucson AZ
2004 Alumni Symposium, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
2001 Student Exhibition, Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, CA

Awards and Honors

2009 Artist Project Grant, Arizona Commission on the Arts
2006 International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary
2006 Sculpture Award
2006 Arizona Artist’s Guild Scholarship
2006 Creative Achievement Award for graduate work in Art, University of Arizona
2006 Coris Family Trust Fine Arts Award, University of Arizona
2006 Albert Haldeman Scholarship, University of Arizona
2005 Centennial Sculpture Award, University of Arizona
2005 Medici Scholars Award, University of Arizona
2004 Graduate College Fellowship, University of Arizona
2002 Phi Beta Kappa, Pomona College, Claremont, CA
2002 Louisa Moseley Fine Arts Prize, Pomona College, Claremont, CA

Selected Collections

Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX
Mark Parker, Seattle, WA
Edward Burtynsky, Toronto, Canada
Sherry and Joel Malin, New York, NY
The Macallan Distillery, Craigellachie, Scotland

Publications

2007  University of Arizona MFA Thesis Exhibition Catalog
2006  Sculpture Magazine, October
2006  The Albuquerque Tribune, October 5
2005  Transformations, University of Arizona College of Fine Arts publication
2005  “Arizona Illustrated”, KUAT-TV, PBS, Residual Pull
2005  “Arizona Illustrated”, KUAT-TV, PBS, Arizona Biennial
2003  Pomona College Magazine

Scroll to Top