I'm a multidisciplinary artist -- which means I work in several different media and materials. I create sculptures, prints, mixed-media work and installations. My work often focuses on memory, the human body and female labor.
For the past several years, I've had an obsession with rope and fibers of all sorts. I view these materials as metaphors for the pliable, random, and ever-mutable state of human existence while also honoring the historical role fibers have played in womens' labor throughout time.
BIO
I am originally from New York, but settled in Portland, Oregon to raise my two children. I earned my Master of Fine Art degree in visual studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art after earning a dual B.S. degree in communications and business from Syracuse University. I also studied for a BFA degree in graphic design at Kent State University in Ohio with additional study in photography at Parsons in Paris, France. My work has been shown locally and nationally and is held in numerous private collections and I have been awarded several artist residencies in the US. I founded the non-profit organization, Rainmaker Artist Residency (2014-2018) in Portland, with the aim of assisting recent arts graduates with professional development support and low-cost studio space.
AWARDS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside CA
Banff Centre Independent Artist Residency,
Alberta, Canada
Founder, Rainmaker Artist Residency, Portland, OR
Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, VT
Honolulu Film Festival , Siver Lei Award
Edenfred Residency, Madison, WI
Caldera/PNCA Residency, Sisters, OR
Visual Chronical of Portland purchase, RACC
Juror's Award, "a.k.a Photography" show, Benham Gallery, Seattle, WA
If you are interested in purchasing my work please email me at jschiffhauer@mac.com
EDUCATION
Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), Portland, OR, MFA
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, B.S.
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, BFA Program in Graphic Design
Parsons School of Design, Paris, France, Special Program in Photography
SOLO EXHIBITS + INSTALLATIONS
"Fulfillment" (site-specific sculpture), Djerassi, Woodside CA, 2019
“In/visible Blue” (Installation), Indivisible, Portland, OR, 2018
"Ideas of Comfort and Danger" (Installation) The Window Project, PDX Gallery,
Portland, OR, 2018
“Altered Bodies” Rainmaker Gallery, Portland, OR, 2016
“Take Size of Me Only If I Can Take Size of You” (Installation) Worksound International, Portland, OR, 2015
“Body of Knots II” Hamden Hall Gallery, New Haven, CT, 2014
“Body of Knots” Littman White Gallery, Portland, OR, 2012
“The Myth of Memory” Place Gallery, Portland, OR, 2011
“Entanglements” Gallery 5 at Milepost 5, Portland, OR, 2011
“Contemplating Found” (Installation), Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR, 2011
"Monotypes" White Bird Gallery, Cannon Beach, OR, 2004
Buckley Center Gallery, University of Portland, Portland, OR,1998
Columbia River Maritime Museum, Astoria, OR, 1998
CameraWork Gallery, Portland, OR, 1997
GROUP EXHIBITS
"Sculpture Through the Ages", PNCA, Portland, OR, 2019
Members Show, Holding Contemporary, Portland, OR, 2018
"Symmetry Breaking", The Art Gym, Marylhurst University. Portland, OR, 2017
"The Fifth Wheel”, Linfield College Art Gallery. McMinnville, OR, 2016
“2012 CoCA Annual”, Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, WA, 2012
“Drawing Shades” Worksound Gallery, Portland, OR, 2011
"Contemplating Found", Ditch Projects, Springfield, OR, 2011
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, OR, 2010
"SØNiK}Fest FLUID//LUCID", Climate Gallery, Long Island City, NY, 2010
"Global Studio China Exhibition", PNCA Gallery 214, Portland, OR, 2009
Flying Cat Gallery, Annual Show: Contemporary Photography Portland, OR, 2009
“Egocentric” Disjecta, Portland, OR, 2009
“Feminine/Masculine”, with Zachary Rau, PNCA Central Gallery, Portland, OR, 2009
“Art Enables” Invitational, Katayama Gallery, Portland, OR, 2007
“Art Port Townsend” Port Townsend, WA, 2007
“Abstractions” The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, 2007
"Photography At Oregon Invitational", J. Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR, 2006
Visual Chronicle of Portland (purchase), RACC, 2005
"Pacific Northwest Annual", University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 2004
“a.k.a. photography” Benham Gallery, Juror’s Award, Seattle, WA, 1999
"Newport Biennial", Newport Visual Arts Center Newport, OR, 1999
“Altered Visions” Macri Gallery, Portland, OR, 1998