Meet Saskia Jorda in North Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Saskia Jorda.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Saskia . So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am an artist, a maker of useless objects. These objects are at once hopeless and hopeful, metaphors for events and forces that shape our lives.

Though I grew up in Venezuela, I had an early life of travel made possible by my mother, who worked for an international airline. Seeing the extremes of poverty and wealth in my own country and throughout the world, I sought to explain what I saw through drawing – as early as I remember, I had color pencils in my hand.

As the political situation in Venezuela worsened in the 1990’s, my parents moved our family to Scottsdale. Entering Chaparral High School was like being dropped into a movie set compared to my strict Catholic girls’ school in Caracas. A couple years after receiving my undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from Arizona State University, I was accepted into the Master in Fine Arts program at School of Visual Arts in New York City, where my art leapt off the two-dimensional world of canvas and paper and became three-dimensional objects and installations. In New York, my work also became more abstract and metaphorical as I tried to distil the chaotic and energetic world around me into work that captured these contrasts.

As I became more engaged in three-dimensional work, my work became more and more related to the human body – sometimes as a participant in performance art, sometimes as an accessory to a static figure – work that often tries to expose both the fragile and durable qualities of our lives. Working with other creative people motivated me to start an artist residency program, which found an enthusiastic home at the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West in Scottsdale from 2005 to 2017. The Arizona arts world has been extremely supportive of my work, and I’m thrilled to continue to live in Phoenix.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Artists – particularly artists who don’t make work as a commodity – rely on the generosity of family, friends, and the cultural community to advance our practice. For every exhibition opportunity, commission, or grant I receive, I deal with half a dozen rejection letters.

Arizona may be a relative newcomer to the contemporary art scene, but it has been generous to me. I’ve been able to explore public art opportunities, received several grants, and exhibited in various venues around the state. Without all this support I’m not sure where my work would be at the moment. Arizona also has a number of high quality artists and curators that keep the dialog open and going, continuing to challenge and inspire my practice. Even if art collectors still go to other cities to buy contemporary art, I’ve found that the public art programs in our leading cities value and often fund art that can push boundaries.

The biggest ongoing challenge is the need to be resourceful at finding ways of supporting my studio work and projects, relying on grants and juggling multiple forms of employment at any given time.

Please tell us about Saskia Jorda.
I’m known for my site-responsive installations, soft sculptures, and in recent years some temporary public art projects. I formally investigate line as a means of communication and as a representation of trajectory. I use line as it relates to the body; body as it relates to space; space as it relates to transition; transition as it relates to culture.

I borrow from the vocabulary of mapping, often recombining and building fictional terrains. I use iconic images that tend to repeat as multiples, and navigate between two-dimensional and three-dimensional – addressing issues of placement/displacement, cultural identity, and our connection to land. My hands make repetitive actions, perpetually examining the act of making itself. Needle and thread have become my pencil allowing me to draw with embroidery techniques. Soft surfaces such as felt appear frequently in my work as do light wooden structures.

My site-specific and temporary pieces have inhabited a public library, large warehouse-like spaces, silos, theatres, traditional gallery and museum venues, and storefront windows. I have also participated in various traditional and non-traditional residencies and I enjoy the process of responding to a site and its people, its complexities, and its cultural context.

In addition to my studio work, I have enjoyed teaching textiles and various levels of drawing at Phoenix College and Paradise Valley Community College since 2012. Being connected to the education side of art is a great way of staying active and working with a new generation of artists.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Traveling with my parents and exploring new places played a key role in my childhood. A trip to Egypt when I was nine years old had a profound effect on me. Memories of climbing our way into one of the Great Pyramids at Giza, trying to decipher the hieroglyphs on the many temple walls, and learning about life in that desert landscape were etched in my young mind. I still think it has influenced the way I use line and scale in my work today and impacted my love for living in our desert environment.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.saskiajorda.com
• Email: infojorda@gmail.com

Image Credit:
Jorda Headshot by Victor Sidy.
Lineage and Lineage with model by William LeGoullon.
100% Contained by Bryan Griffith.
Soft Borders and detail by Airi Katsuta
Cacerolazo and Cacerolazo process by Airi Katsuta

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.