Artist’s Statement

Drawing the human figure is a paradoxical thing for me: it is at once my comfort zone and also my place of abject terror, at the risk of being melodramatic. My comfort zone because I have come back to doing it time and time again, never tiring of discovering the different ways bodies are formed. It is such a state of delicious suspense for me to be introduced to a new model: what will their poses reveal? How will their hips connect to their thighs? What will the curve of their stomach look like, and how will their neck sink into their shoulders?

Of course, there are those moments when I am stumbling over a model’s hands or feet or can’t quite get their knees drawn properly. Or my best hopes to fit the entire figure on the page, not just their torso, which intrigues me infinitely. My hands can’t always produce what my eyes see, so therein lays the source of tension and conflict. A mighty miracle when I feel like I have translated what I see to paper!! A sad state of affairs when I can’t, prompting all sorts of philosophical and rational thoughts to take a deep breath and hope for better results next time.

So I offer up these drawings in the hopes that you, too, can join me in admiring the spectacular presence of the human form. Perhaps presents is the better word.

Bio

With the exception of one painting class at the Montclair Art Museum when I was in high school way back when, I was self-taught and couldn’t wait to get into art school so that I could learn how to draw. Never mind that that was what I was always doing!

I graduated from SUNY Purchase with a Bachelors of Fine Arts and spent the ensuing years using stills from an animated film I had made to conduct consciousness-raising workshops about rape and sexual assault. I did next to no art at all for some 20 years.

I finally realized I needed to start doing some kind of art again and quite by accident, started a custom-order Judaica business, which ultimately led to the world of surface design. In between all of this, I lived overseas, became a welder and a farmer, got married, had a child, got divorced, a Masters in Teaching Art, and later, a Masters in Special Education.

Decades after finishing art school, I started to return to my roots, as they say, and ventured back into the world of fine arts. To my surprise, I also ended up teaching art, discovering I actually loved it! I continue to straddle several worlds – textile design, wearable art, some ceramics, abstract drawing, and my old love, figure drawing. Follow me on Instagram to see what I am up to these days: @miriamjacobs920.

Miriam Jacobs – Resume
miriamjacobsartist.com splitleaf.info
@miriamjacobs920 miriamjacobs920@gmail.com
Selected Juried Exhibits/Juried Fine Art and Craft Shows
StudioMontclair Artists Critique Group Show, StudioMontclair, Jun 11-July 16, 2022
Juried Fine Art and Craft Show, Artful Sundays, Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton, NJ, Summer 2022 Art Instructors’ Spotlight Group Show, Montclair Art Museum, April 2-May 23, 2022
Womyn’s Werq, Juried Group Show, StudioMontclair, Montclair, NJ, March-April 2021
Greetings from Montclair, Fundraising Event, StudioMontclair, Montclair, NJ, Dec. 2021
Peters Valley Virtual Faculty Exhibit, Peters Valley School of Craft, Layton, NJ, June-October 2020 Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival, Hampton Convention Center, Hampton, VA, Feb-March 2020
“Good Works”, Juried Fine Art Show, StudioMontclair, Montclair, NJ, Jan.-Feb. 2019
Peters Valley Craft Fair, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ, Sept. 2019
Kuhl Designs and Friends, Clifton, NJ, Dec. 2019
Hampton House Pop-Up, Montclair, NJ, Winter Holidays, 2016/2017/2018
Two Ceramic Sculptures, “Art-To-Go”, StudioMontclair, Montclair, NJ, Dec. 2018
“Inner Canvas”, Group Art Show, Morris Museum, Morristown, NJ, Oct.-Nov. 2017
“Celebrate!”, Group Art Show, Curator: Mary Z. Scotti, Montclair Public Library and Studio Montclair
Art Gallery, Montclair, NJ, Nov.-Dec. 2017
Carter Burden Gallery, Fine Art & Craft Show, New York, NY, Dec. 2017
Woodstock Jewish Congregation, Fine Art & Craft Show, Woodstock, NY, Dec. 2017
“Arts and Healing”, Group Show, Montclair Public Library, Montclair, NJ, April 2017
Carter Burden Gallery, Art Cards and Holiday Bazaar, New York City, December 2016
Lincoln Center Fine Art and Craft Show, American Concern for Artistry and Craftsmanship, Lincoln
Center Plaza, New York City, NY, Oct. 2016
Art Walk, Makeready Press Gallery, Montclair, NJ, October 2016
Holiday Bazaar, River Valley Waldorf School, Upper Eddy, PA, November 2016
Artisan Pop Up Markets, Montclair, NJ, August, Sept.-Oct. 2016
SpeakEasy Art Gallery, Boonton, NJ, Summer and Fall Art Collective, Summer-Fall 2010
“Color Conversations”, Solo Show, Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT, Dec. 2009 StudioMontclair Annual Members Show, Montclair Public Library, June 2009
“From the Inside Out”, Students of Marion Held, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, Jan. 2009 Art in the Park, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, May 2008
Clay Sculpture Group Show, Curator Marion Held, World Pottery, Montclair, NJ, June 2008 Euro Glass and Art Gallery, Montclair, NJ, July 2008-March 2009
Haba Café, New York, New York, Sept. 2007-Feb. 2009
“What’s New”, Group Show, Studio Montclair, Montclair Public Library, June 2007 “A New Season”, Group Show, Nandi Gallery, Montclair, NJ, Sept.-Oct. 2006
Fern Bass Art Studio, Group Show, ,Montclair, NJ, March 2006

Dutot Museum, Group Show, , Delaware Water Gap, PA, October 2004
“MythBreaker I’”, Solo Show, Antea Gallery, Curator Joanna Ryam, Tel Aviv, Israel, June 1986 Film Animation Group Show, Curator and Exhibitor, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY, May 1978 Two-Person Show, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY, May 1978
Neuberger Museum, Group Show, Purchase, NY, May 1978
Purchase Gallery, Group Show, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY, Fall 1977
Women’s Art Exhibit, Curator and Exhibitor, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, NY, Spring 1975 and
Spring 1977
Collections and Sales
Private collections in the United States, England, Israel, India, Germany and Australia
Publications, Lectures, Panel Discussions and Demonstrations, Featured
Artist, Mentorships
Art in the Park, Peters Valley, Suminagashi Demonstration, May 29, 2022
Invited participant in Curator’s Talk, Women’s Werq, Studio Montclair, March 7, 2021 Virtual Presentation, Gather at the Well, Curated by Barbara Kavadias and Hanoch Yefet,
Morristown, NJ, July 17, 2020
Virtual Presentation, Making Matters, Fresh Perspectives in Fine Craft, Peters Valley School of
Craft, June 2020, https://youtu.be/Jg7ZQsTFQ7o
Artist Lecture, Dynamic Disperse Dye, with Lisa Reber White, Pike County Public Library, Milford,
PA, June 2019
Demonstrator of Disperse Dye, Peters Valley Craft Fair, Sussex County Fairgrounds, Augusta, NJ,
Sept. 2019
Demonstrator of Disperse Dye, “Art-To-Go”, StudioMontclair, Montclair, NJ, Dec. 2018 Mentor, “String Theory”, Studio Montclair Incubator Exhibit of Three Artists, Academy Square,
Montclair, NJ, Oct.-Nov. 2018
Dharma Trading Website, Featured Artist, January 2017 till present
Invited Panelist, Celebrate!, Juried Group Art Show, Curator: Mary Z. Scotti, Gallery 73 See, Montclair Public Library, Montclair, NJ, Nov. 2017
Lesson Plan for Disperse Dye Prints on Fabric as Part of Quilt to Cover NASA’s Saturn V Moon
Rocket, published by the Fiber Collective, June 2014
1000 Artisan Textiles, Creative Fiber Works in Detail, Sandra Salamony and Gina Brown, editors,
Rockport Publishers/Quarry Books, May 2010 (two pieces included in book)
Book signing for above-named book, demonstration and talk, Watchung Booksellers, May 2010,
Montclair, NJ
Artist’s Residencies, Selected Teaching Assignments
Fabric Magic with Shibori Indigo and Ice Cube Dyeing, Peters Valley, June 3-5, 2022 Suminagashi, Montclair Art Museum, May 7, 2022
Disperse Dye Workshop, The Quilt and Sewing Fest of New Jersey, New Jersey Convention and
Exposition Center; Edison, NJ, November 2020

Surface Design Workshops, Virtual and In-person, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair NJ, 2010- Present
Disperse Dye, Artist Residency, Sacred Heart Greenwich, Greenwich, CT, Nov. 2009 and Feb. 2019 Alternative Marbling, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, Feb. 2018/Feb., April, July, Oct. 2019 Disperse Dye, Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts and Sciences, Loveladies, NJ, June 2019 How To Make Disperse Dyes and Fabric Crayons, Professional Development Workshop, Sacred
Heart Greenwich, Greenwich, CT, May 2019
Shibori with Indigo Dye, Professional Development Workshop, Sacred Heart Greenwich,
Greenwich, CT, Nov. 2009, May 2019, March 2022
Alternative Marbling, Montclair Adult School, Montclair, NJ, April 2018
Five-day Shibori Indigo Workshop, Camp Common Ground, Starksboro, VT, July 2018/ Aug. 2019 Dyeing Impossible Fabric with Disperse Dyes, Two-Day Workshop, Taught with Master Dyer Lisa
White Reber, Red Hill, PA, Aug. 2018
Five-day Workshop, Shibori with Indigo Dye, Common Ground Center, Starksboro, VT, July 2018
and Aug. 2019
Shibori with Indigo, Private home, Montclair, NJ, Sept. 2018
Carve Your Own Stamp: Embellish a Box, Swoon, Montclair, NJ, Sept. 2018
Shibori with Indigo Dye, Bristol Village Cohousing, Bristol, VT, Nov. 2018
Marbleized Gift Tag Workshop, Swoon, Montclair, NJ, Nov. 2018
Disperse Dye, Swoon, Montclair, NJ, July 2018 and June 2019
Shibori with Indigo, Swoon, Montclair, NJ, May 20, 2018
Alternative Marbling, Montclair Adult School, Montclair, NJ, April 2018
Teapots at The Tea Store, Limited Edition Giclee Prints, Montclair, NJ, Oct. 2018-Oct. 2019 Sublimation Transfer Disperse Dye, Newark Art Museum, Montclair Art Museum and in home studio,
Summer 2009 till present
How to Carve Your Own Stamp, Rock, Paper, Scissors, Glen Ridge, NJ, Summer and fall 2010 Artist’s Residency, The Convent of the Sacred Heart, Greenwich, CT, Sublimation Transfer Disperse
Dye, November 2009
Art Teacher, Deron School (private high school for students with disabilities), Montclair, NJ, Oct.
2013-June 2014
Art Teacher, 18th Avenue School/Cleveland Avenue School (18th Avenue closed after my first year
there), Newark, NJ, Sept. 2011-June 2013
Grants/Special Notice
Ambassador to Spoonflower, As Ambassador, I can offer special discount to my surface design students, Nov. 2020
3-D Pens, (ghost writer), Montclair Fund for Excellence in Education, Montclair, NJ, Feb. 2020 Grant Recipient, Donors Choose, Papier mache masks for 500 students for multimedia project in
honor of Black History Month, Dec. 2011
Grant Participant, NAIL Project (Newark Art Integrated into Literacy Project), Received training to
raise capacity of 2nd and 3rd grade classroom/art teachers to collaborate on literacy/art curriculum, Oct. 2012

Select Student Art Exhibits
The Dream Rocket Project, Fiber Collaborative, Submitted student art work inspired by Thomas Edison and other inventors, Student work formed part of a huge quilt that was wrapped around the actual NASA Saturn V Moon Rocket, Thomas Edison National Historic Park, West Orange, NJ and U.S. Space & Rocket Center, Huntsville, AL, June 2014-June 2015
Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, Deron High School student work inspired by author and illustrator Eric Carle, Upper Montclair, NJ, May 2014
National Youth Art Month, Curated exhibit of Deron High School student art work as well as work from the woodshop, jewelry and sewing classes, Introduced speaker for exhibit opening, Montclair Public Library, Montclair, NJ, March 2014
Education
Masters of Special Education, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ, 2010
Masters, Teaching Art, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, 1981 Bachelors of Fine Art, SUNY Purchase, Purchase, New York, 1978
Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 1973-1975
Hebrew University, Young Judaea Year-in-Israel Course, Jerusalem, Israel, 1973-1973
Certifications
Standard Certificate, Teacher of Art, K-12
Standard Certificate, Elementary School Teacher, Grades -5 Standard Certificate, Teacher of Students with Disabilities Certificate of Eligibility, Pre-K-3
Professional Memberships
Studio Montclair, 2000-present
Surface Design Association, 2014-present
American Concern for Artistry and Craftsmanship, Invited Artist NAEA, National Art Education Association, 2012-present AENJ, Art Educators of New Jersey, 2012-2015