Jody Graff is a multimedia visual artist who creates artwork driven by her joy, curiosity, and awe of the natural world; a synthesis of art, design, craft, culture, and environmental science. Her work allows the viewer to see and appreciate details and structures of botanicals (primarily leaves) in an intimate and contextualized way. Her work has been exhibited in group and solo exhibitions, both indoors and outdoors. Prior to Jody’s full-time focus on her artwork she was a practicing graphic designer/graphic design professor for 36/28 years respectively. Her focus in graphic design was dimensional work (packaging, exhibition, etc.) and 2D work (branding, book design, marketing materials). Her life experience as an educator, designer and maker informs her material choices, concepts and craft revealed in her current body of work.
About
The quilts, designs and specimens I create use botanical materials that are tied to the specific location where they were collected, which is then explored in the composition (historical quilt patterns, abstract compositions based on details found at the site, culturally tied patterns, and designs that emphasize details of the botanical).
The collected botanicals reflect the conditions of a specific season and particular environmental conditions of that time period. Drought, late season rains (resulting in leaf spotting), insect damage, the angle the sun was hitting leaves, etc. are all visible in the material and add a deeper connection to place and time. They are environmental time capsules that when collected from the same plant/location over many years, reveal a climate change narrative.
The components in all series are collected and pressed by me, and then hand-cut and individually placed and secured. The work has a slow and meditative quality, with each cut affecting the next piece and cut. The pace allows a more intimate connection to the materials and, in the collected botanicals, the time to select each unique piece. I am as invested in the process and discovery as I am in the final outcome.
The multi-media sculptures are similar to the botanical series and also connect locations, ecologies and storytelling, but are explored at a larger-than-life scale in carved wood and paper sculpture.