Hello! I’m Jay, and I use he/him and they/them pronouns. I graduated with my BFA in Art & Design from the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan in 2024, where I’ve primarily focused on working with clay. In addition to ceramics, I enjoy writing, video games, crochet, being outside, and spending idle time with people I care about.
Within my artistic practice, I draw mostly from my own life experiences. Clay as a material is essential for my work due to its innate relationship to the human body, and its nature as a uniquely time- and labor-intensive material. Much of my sculptural ceramic work is focused around themes of trauma–how to physicalize the internal effects of trauma as well as how to go about processing and healing from it. My most recent work (life-size figurative sculpture) delves specifically into the ways that being trans affects my relationship with myself and my body, specifically focusing on how medically transitioning has allowed me to become gentler with myself. My functional pottery is both an escape from the heaviness of my sculptural work as well as an embodiment of my desire to bring joy to others through handmade items.
Penny W. Stamps School of Art and Design
University of Michigan - BFA '24
jpetrows@umich.edu