Jessica Curtaz
scale 6, 2014
Graphite on gessoed paper
17-1/2 x 17-1/2" (framed)

Artist Statement
I approach my work as a series of moving puzzles, ones that are not just made up of pieces, but pieces within pieces, interacting in ways both intentional and not. I play with flow - the flow of shadow, of light, of water, of the direction something is drawn in. I play with abstraction and hyper-realism, light and reflection, surface and depth. In this way, my work is inspired by faceted glass, or how rippling water changes and moves, how it is transparent and substantive at the same time. Even those elements of my work that I am currently ignoring or overlooking are never static. I can only pay attention to so many specifics at one time. And drawings have a life of their own. Things happen whether I'm paying immediate attention to them or not. More than controlling every aspect of a drawing I set ideas in motion.

Artist Bio
Jessica Curtaz is a Philadelphia-based street artist and arts advocate. She draws, mosaics, and crochets weeds, insects, and real and imaginary creatures. She is an advocate for increasing the autonomy of marginalized populations as well as strengthening their voices in the larger community. Jessica works as a teaching artist, specializing in adaptive teaching methods to special needs populations, including the blind and visually impaired, and adults and children with physical and intellectual disabilities. These classes focus on art, both as a creative outlet and a vocation. To these ends she has led several public art projects, including with students at the PA School for the Deaf, housing insecure populations in Kensington, and immigrant and refugee populations in South and Northeast Philadelphia. She is currently working on the second half of a mosaic mural that will be installed permanently in the atrium at the Overbrook school for the Blind.