Statement
Following the untimely death of my longest friend, I began examining the influence loss and trauma can have on our memories, connection, innocence, and joy. For many years, my paintings, assemblages, and installations were rooted in maintaining that friendship, the neighborhood we grew up in, and the cemetery that we lived next to. I sought to understand his life while preserving the memories I had and we once shared. His death taught me to reflect on and share stories frequently, but it also allowed me to confront traumas from my childhood that were keeping me in the past. Then in 2018, as I carried my daughter in my womb, I was confronted with the complexity of making work about death while bearing new life—bittersweet and spiritual. My worlds blurred as I was presented with a flood of possibilities for growth and renewal, acceptance and confrontation, hurting and healing, mending and undoing. Through my work, I arrived at and learned the art of gardening. Tending the earth in this intentional way is not only practical, it is a mindset. A philosophy built on patience, hope, process, struggle, perseverance, and ultimately, mortality. In many ways, the garden has served as an extension of studio practice, provided new insights to life and loss.
My collaged and hand-sewn paintings honor the process of gardening. They are adorned with dried, homegrown wildflowers, referencing nature’s joy and playfulness, as well as the unpredictability of weather, time, and life. Similarly, the odd-shaped canvases were once different paintings or remnants collected from friends and collaborators which I have amended. It is through my practice of gathering, reusing, and sewing that my work continues to evolve. Much like the constant decomposition and renewal of nature, these pieces stem from prior purposes that adapt as I do. Similarly, my Installations and objects use materials collected over the past six years. They include headstones, dirt, handwritten notes, real and faux flowers, cement, fabric, and chairs. These objects and materials signify the loss one inevitably experiences in friendship, community, and self.
Bio
Jessica Bingham (she/her) is an artist, curator, mother, educator, and advocate working in Central Illinois. Her work examines memory, trauma, homemaking, childhood, and motherhood through painting, mending, and assemblage. She has exhibited: Woman Made Gallery, Chicago; Neon Heater, Findlay, Ohio; Public Space One, Iowa City; Mantel Art Space, San Antonia, Texas; Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa; Contemporary Art Center of Peoria, Peoria, Illinois; and Heartbreaker, Peoria, Illinois, among others. She has completed residencies at the Prairie Center for the Arts, Peoria, Illinois, Enos Park Residency for Visual Artists, Springfield, Illinois, and Stay Home Gallery and Residency in Paris, Tennessee.
Bingham is the director and co-founder of Project 1612, an independent artist-run organization focused on ephemeral exhibitions, community development, and participatory performances. Project 1612 was founded in 2015 in collaboration with fellow artist Alexander Martin and her husband Zach Ott. Additionally, Bingham has curated exhibitions at University Galleries of Illinois State University, where she organized solo exhibitions for T.J. Dedeaux-Norris, Katie Bell, Eric Anthony Berdis, and Ashley Jude Jonas, and a group exhibition featuring members of the Peoria Guild of Black Artists. She has also curated and supervised exhibitions at Illinois Central College and Bradley University Galleries.
Bingham is dedicated to collaborating with and supporting local and regional artist-run, LGBTQ-owned, Black-led, and NFP organizations. She views such collaboration as an essential part of community development and pride. She co-organized satellite group exhibitions and programming for the 3rd (2017) and 4th (2019) Terrain Biennials. Participating 2017 artists: Gina Hunt, Bryony Hussey, Ryan Paluczak, and Dawn Robin. Participating 2019 artists: Sage Dawson, Venise Keys, Jam Rohr, John Steck Jr. In 2019, Bingham curated a two-part group exhibition at Super Dutchess (currently Below Grand) featuring works by the members of Monaco, an artist collective based in St. Louis. Participating artists: Bruce Burton, Heather Bennett, Jennifer Colten, Sage Dawson, Kristin Fleischmann Brewer, José Garza, Meghan Grubb, Howard Krohn, Yowshien Kuo, Allison Lacher, Tim Portlock, and Edo Rosenblith. Furthermore, Bingham has written regional exhibition reviews for Sixty Inches From Center; co-presented about artist-run spaces at the Midwest Art History Society Annual Conference, The Business of Art, and Beyond Alternatives Symposium; juried and presented for Sky Art Peoria Celebration; co-organized an international film screening; and facilitated a donation-based art sale to raise funds for Peoria Guild of Black Artists, Girls Light Our Way, and LULA Peoria NFP. She is currently serving on the board of pt.fwd and Big Picture Peoria.
Bingham studied abroad in Florence, Italy in 2011 at Linguaviva School of Italian Language and Charles H. Cecil Studios. She earned her BA in Studio Art in 2012 and completed a Post-Baccalaureate Fellowship in 2013 all from Monmouth College. She completed her MA and MFA in Painting at Bradley University in Peoria, IL in 2014 and 2016.