Jess Eastburn: Seesaw

March 30 - May 6, 2023
​Artist's Reception, April 22nd from 1-4 pm​

Jessica Eastburn, Eye in the Sky, watercolor, 10 x 14

Transmission Gallery is pleased to present  recent watercolors by Jessica Eastburn in our Small Space gallery.  Undulating with color, pattern and imagery, Eastburn's  mysteriously whimsical works communicate surprise, alarm even, mashed up with brightness and hope.  

Eastburn comments: 
In these paintings I am attempting to find balance. Each of these paintings represents a small ecosystem of color and shape; a kind of self-contained community of organisms. I envision these ecosystems teeming with various kinds of life: small insects, bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, mosses, and lichens, all stuck in environments made of dirt, mud, muck, stone, and detritus. Compositionally, I am attempting to find a balance between colors and shapes that are wedged and glued together to create a whole. Finding a way to mix the bad parts of the paintings with the nice ones is a visual metaphor for accepting and remediating what we have already done to the planet and learning to live in better balance with our environment. The paintings arose from anxiety about the environment but they are not all gloom and doom; they are a celebration of the exuberance of nature and the equilibrium it tries to maintain in spite of us.

---

More about Jessica Eastburn

Past exhibition at Transmission Gallery: Send Pics

BIO
Jessica Eastburn is a professional artist currently living in California, though she originally hails from Oregon. She received her BA in Liberal Studies from Portland State University and her MFA in Pictorial Art from San Jose State University.

Jessica’s studio practice primarily consists of drawing and painting, though she occasionally works in public art, small sculpture, plywood shaped paintings, animation, and shadow theater. Jessica has previously been an artist-in residence at Kala Art Institute (Berkeley, CA), and she was formerly the Young Artist Fellow at Gallery Route One (Point Reyes Station, CA) and her work has been exhibited throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as in Oregon, Indiana, Illinois, and Arkansas. Notable solo exhibitions include: Transmission Gallery (Oakland), Empire Seven Studios (San Jose), Totally Rad Gallery (Berkeley), SOMArts Ramp Gallery (San Francisco), and 1078 Gallery (Chico). Her work has been included in group exhibitions at the de Young Museum (San Francisco), Kala Art Institute (Berkeley), Berkeley Art Center, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, and Luna Rienne Gallery (San Francisco). 

Education
2010 MFA San Jose State University
2007 BA (cum laude) Portland State University

Exhibitions
​2021   Imagery Overload (three-person show with Elizabeth Magee and Don Manderson), Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR
2018   Send Pics, Transmission Gallery, Oakland, CA
2017   Factotum, Gearbox Gallery Inner Room, Oakland, CA
2016   Flimflam, 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA
              Screen Test, Totally Rad Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2015 Channel Surfing, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA
              Day Trading, San Francisco Mint, San Francisco, CA
2014 Catch A Wave, Empire Seven Studios, San José, CA
              Mutatis Mutandis, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA
              SpaceCase, Cañada College Gallery, Redwood City, CA
              Bitter/Sweet, SOMArts Ramp Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013  Dan Tellep & Jessica Eastburn (two-person show with Dan Tellep), Saratoga Library, Saratoga, CA
2012  Skip Cullen & Jessica Eastburn: Paintings & Wall Reliefs (two-person show with Skip Cullen), Mohr Gallery, Mountain View, CA
             Super Sweet, Phantom Galleries, San José, CA
2010 Brain Drain, San Jose State University--Gallery 3, San José, CA
             Hyperspace, Gavilan College Art Gallery, Gilroy, CA
2007 Nitty Gritty City, MK Gallery, Portland, OR
2006 Friendship Balloons, Food for Thought Student Gallery, Portland, OR


Selected Group Exhibitions
2020 de Young Open, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2019 Lie, Cheat, Steal, Kresge Gallery, Batesville, AR
             POP ART 2.0, The Art Center at Highland Park, Highland Park, IL
2018 Faculty Exhibition, City College of San Francisco Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 ME/DIUM, Space B, San José, CA
             Anne & Mark's Art Party, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San José, CA
             Spirit of Shokunin, Empire Seven Studios, San José, CA
             First Edition, 1AM Oakland, Oakland, CA
             Home is Where the HeART Is, Art Ark Gallery, San José, CA
             Screaming Hand: A Tribute to Jim Phillips, Empire Seven Studios, San José, CA
2015 Group Show, Totally Rad Gallery, Berkeley, CA
              Women and Money, Spare Change Artist Space, San Francisco, CA
              Everybody's Ocean (Wave II), Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz, CA
2014 Member's Takeaway Show, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA
             CCSF Art Faculty Exhibition, Fort Mason Coffee Gallery, San Francisco, CA
              Here and Now, CCSF Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
              Anne & Mark's Art Party, Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San José, CA
              Member's Show, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, CA
              Artik Art and Architecture Anniversary Show, Artik Art and Architecture, San Jose, CA
2013 CCSF Faculty Exhibition, Fort Mason Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
              Risk, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
              Annual Art Exhibition, Artik Art and Architecture, San José, CA
              Exhibit of Paintings, Stanford Art Space, Palo Alto, CA
2012 Flights of Fancy, Fabric8, San Francisco, CA
              Personal Made Space, Empire Seven Studios, San José, CA
              Summer National Juried Exhibition, MarinMOCA, Novato, CA
              Art + Math Collaborative, Moreau Center Art Gallery, Notre Dame, IN
2011 Holiday Group Show, Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA         
              Spectrum, Fabric8, San Francisco, CA
              Cashing Out, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
              The Abstract, Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA
              Lift Off: SJSU MFA Graduate Show, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San José, CA
              Monster Drawing Rally, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA     
2010 Where I'm From, Art Ark Gallery, San José, CA        
              An Exploration in Color and Design, LH Horton Jr Gallery, Stockton, CA
              Live From the Arkives, Art Ark Gallery, San José, CA
2009 Small Works, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland, CA 
2008 Group Show, The Life Gallery, Portland, OR
2007 Exit 07, White Gallery, Portland, OR 
             Worm Food, Autzen Gallery, Portland, OR
2006 Scholarship Recipient Show, MK Gallery, Portland, OR


Public Art Projects
2022 Mural for SAP Center x Zoom (administered by Local Color, SJ), San José, CA     
2021 Mural for the City of Palo Alto Public Art Program, Palo Alto, CA          
2019 Mural for San Jose Walls Festival, San José, CA           
2019 Utility Box Wrap for the Think Outside the Box Program, Davis, CA             
2019 Utility Box Mural for the Dublin Utility Box Art Project, Dublin, CA                 
2015 Mural for the Festival International Street Art (FISART), Timișoara, Romania         


Awards
2014 Young Artist Fellow, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
2011 Student Research Competition Winner--Creative Arts, San Jose State University
2010 Burmahln Scholarship, San Jose State University         
              Willis Nelson Memorial Scholarship, San Jose State University
              Randall Sadler Scholarship, San Jose State University
2009 Graduate Equity Fellowship, San Jose State University         
              Alumni Association Dean's Scholarship, San Jose State University        
              Elizabeth Heil Scholarship, San Jose State University
2006 Piancentini Scholarship, Portland State University         
              Creative Activity Grant for Undergraduates, Portland State University

Bibliography
2022 "Artists Show Their San Jose Love in Murals at SAP Center," by Sal Pizarro, The Mercury News, March
2016 'Ephemeral Media Flotsam'," by Robert Speer, Chico News & Review, August
            "Jessica Eastburn Makes Sense of the Digital Age with Art," by Leila Rodriquez, Chico Enterprise-Record, August
            "Jessica Eastburn’s Solo Show Brings a Fresh Style of Contemporary Art to North Berkeley," by Ashley Villareal, SF Station, February                                               
2015 "An Explosion of Art in West Marin Galleries," by Claudia Chapline, Point Reyes Light, May
2014 "Anne and Mark's Art Party," by DeWitt Cheng, Metroactive.com, September 
            "Gallery Route One Exhibitions: Vickisa, Lauri Sturdivant, and Jessica Eastburn," WestMarinCommons.org, March
2013 "risk," by Todd Kerr, Berkeley Times, July          
2012 'Math + Art' at Saint Mary's," South Bend Tribune.com, February
            "Empire Seven Studios Highlights Nine Female Artists in Show Called 'Personal Made Space'," by Heather Zimmerman, The Mercury News, January
           "'Math + Art' Exhibit + Installation = 2 Reasons to Visit Galleries," by Gwen O'Brien, saintmary's.edu/newsandevents, January     
2011 "Place Your Bets,” by Keith Bowers, SFWeekly, June
            "Lift Off" catalogue, San Jose State University Art Department, June


Media Appearances
2016 "Weekend Showcase: Artist Jessica Eastburn & Blue Room's 'Tales From the Crypt'," NSPR, 5 August, 2016
2015 "JMS Limited Edition: Edition 1," jmslimitededition.com, 18 March, 2015 to 13 June, 2015 
      
Collections
​Google Inc. (Mountain View, CA)
PayPal (San Jose, CA)