Jayne King

Jayne King is a Chicago-born Jewish artist and recent graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA 2022), where they spent their time focusing on ceramics, object collection, and book making. Their work has been exhibited nationally at Sweetwater Center for the Arts, Povos Gallery, the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, SAIC Galleries, and Woman Made Gallery.

King was a 2022 ArtAxis+Haystack Fellowship recipient, a 2022 Chicago Artist Coalition SPARK Grant recipient, 2023 Luminarts Finalist, the 2023 Old Town Arts Fest Inaugural Emerging Artist, and is currently a long-term artist in residence at The Digs Chicago.

Jayne King — Environmental Photo

Jayne King & Waters Elementary School

Click photo to enlarge

Click photo to enlarge

This piece is a member of my ongoing series of Memory Vessels: ceramic objects intended for the

storage and preservation of memory and experience as opposed to food and drink. I worked with the kids in Ms. B’s 3rd grade class to select objects they felt encapsulated their time at Waters Elementary.

We discussed the 17 year cicada cycle and how the natural rhythms of the Earth offer metaphors with which to explore and describe our own experiences. We also discussed the solar eclipse and how they’ll always remember such a special, once-in-a-lifetime event they spent together at Waters.

The vessel depicts the school building one one side and the playground on the other, with kids running about, reading on the benches, and watching the eclipse together. Buried below ground are the objects the kids chose and drew out for me to add to the piece, which I think worked wonderfully to incorporate their unique lived perspectives into the work.

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Artists in Public Schools creates artist residencies in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), providing expansive art making experiences for students, educators, and professional Chicago-based artists. Working together with a collaborative, community-focused mindset, we celebrate and widely share the unique stories of CPS students and schools through art and creativity. When the arts and aesthetics are integrated into education, work, and life, we strengthen our capacity to learn. Creating something is at the core of learning.