Jessica Wildman Katz is an interdisciplinary artist based in Highland Park, Michigan.
Born and raised in the quasi-rural lakes area suburbs of Detroit…
…Jessica is a self-proclaimed “lakebilly”. Her vocational training as a builder’s apprentice specializing in historic home restoration shifted her art practice from its initial focus in photography to one rooted in labor and process. Central to her work is a devotion to material poetics where she explores themes of transformation. She works with an amalgamation of forms that breach disciplinary margins.
She has presented work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Muskegon Museum of Art, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, and Grand Rapids Art Museum, among others. Jessica’s work has been supported by the Frey Foundation and Kendall College of Art and Design, and is in the public collection of Wayne State University where she holds an MFA in Fiber. As a first-generation college graduate she graduated summa cum laude with departmental honors earning a BFA in Sculpture and Photography from Wayne State University where her creative research earned an Award of Excellence from the Academy of Scholars.
Jessica maintains a live-performance practice, recently activating Rivera Court at the Detroit Institute of Art with her Sonic-Weaving. She is a mother, musician, poet, and certified Master Gardener from Michigan State University. She lives and works in Highland Park (a city within the city of Detroit) with her husband, daughter, and cats.