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1. Jodi Hays, Self Portrait Within Limits, 2006, graphite on paper with grommets,
      115” x 52-1/2”
2. Jodi Hays, Self Portrait As Bad Ass, 2005, graphite on paper with grommets,
     115” x 52-1/2”
3. Jodi Hays, Self Portrait After Eva Hesse, 2006, graphite on paper with big brass
     grommets, 115” x 52-1/2”
4. Jodi Hays, Self Portrait, Satisfied (almost), 2007, graphite on paper with sewing pins,
     115” x 52-1/2”
5. Jodi Hays, Self Portrait, Protesting, 2007, graphite on paper with star grommets,
     115” x 52-1/2”
6. Jodi Hays, Self Portraits, details

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1. For Lee (my neighbor), 2006, Laffy Taffy Wrappers made into pinwheels, Sculpey, beads, leather
     belts, pins, glue, floral tape, floral wire, cigarettes from Bill Martin’s grocery, 10” x 8” x 8”
2. For Johnny Cash, 2006, Sculpey, beads, wire, pins, rhinestones, guitar strings from a Nashville
     preacher, gold stars, photocopies, paper, gold doilies, 8” x 6” x 8”
3. For Expectations (and/or New York), 2007, paper, acceptance/rejections letters, gold buttons,
     leather, pins, beads, plastic leaves, fake cherries, wire, 10” x 6” x 6”
4. For Eva Hesse, 2006, wire, ribbon threads, Art in America magazine cut outs, Xerox copies, ribbon,
     floral wire, floral tape, glue, pins, beads, sketchbook pages, 7” x 9” x 9”
5. For the Dissatisfied (in crummy jobs), 2006, Sculpey bluebirds of happiness, wire, ribbon,
     7” x 6” x 6”
6. For the Gaps, 2006, wire, beads, Mama Jim’s (my late grandmother’s) false teeth, dental floss,
     paper, magazine snippets, Sculpey, ribbon, 9” x 6” x 6”

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1. Home Safe, 2006, oil on board, 20” x 16”
2. Stranger, 2006, oil on board, 20” x 16”
3. Already/Not Yet, 2006, oil on board, 20” x 16”

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Contact Information
1415 Fatherland Street
Nashville, TN 37206
tel: 615-484-7455
e-mail: jodihays@gmail.com
wwww.jodihays.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement
I employ the language of ceremony (bouquets, banners, flags, fashion) in my studio practice.  I use systems like drawing, self portraiture, repetition to question how convention, obsession, memory and desire inform one’s identity.

Through my work I find differences in my inner life as compared to my outer appearance - headspace versus physical space- not unlike those games for children in newspapers where you have to find the difference between two images.

Statements (whether spoken, painted, thought, desired, given or drawn) are fickle and grand - deflated or elevated, changing but demonstrative. There is satisfaction in the process of making - an accounting of events that I might have forgotten otherwise. My work becomes a reminder, like a souvenir penny, stamped with the place and date of my trip. 

Education
2006
Vermont College, Montpelier, VT
MFA, Visual Art

1998
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN
BFA, Drawing

1996
Foundations, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Savannah, GA, Silas H. Rhodes Scholarship

Awards and Honors
2006 and 2007
Tennessee Arts Commission Professional Development Grant

2006
Vermont Studio Center Artist Grant, Johnson, VT

2005
Gallery Award, Michael Price Gallery National Emerging Artist Competition, Juror-Linda Nordon

1996
Inaugural Class Valedictorian, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Residencies
2007
Cooper Union Summer Residency Program, New York, NY

2006
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

Professional Experience
Present
Gallery Director, Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN

Gallery Affiliations
2007
TAG Art Gallery, Nashville, TN

2006
The Drawing Center, Viewing Program, New York, NY

2005 - 2007
Boston Drawing Project, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA

2003 - 2006
Signs of Life Gallery, Lawrence, KS

Bibliography
2007
Koeppel, Frederic, “Perspectives’ on a 300 mile circle”, Memphis Commercial Appeal, online

2006
Jackson, Judea, “Southern Upbringing Meets East Coast Design”,  Henderson Reddie, 6 October 2006.

2005
Greenwald, John, "Jodi Hays Paints the High Life", Lowell Sun, Lowell, MA (photo)

2003
Thomason, Louisa, "Jodi Hays Gresham", Middlesex Beat, New England (photo)

2002
Tuttle, Nancye, " Up Close and Personal", Steppin’ Out, Lowell Sun, Lowell, MA (photo)

2001
Rhyne, Brett, "Essex and Cambridge Juried Shows", Weekly Dig, Boston, MA

Selected Exhibitions

Solo

2008
Drawing Room, Portland, ME

2006
The Jodi Show: MFA Thesis Exhibition, TW Wood Gallery, Vermont College, Montpelier, VT

2004
New Work, Cultural Organization of Lowell, COOL gallery, Lowell, MA

2000
Canonical Hours, Sacramento Street Gallery, Cambridge, MA

Group

2008
Ladies First, Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX

2007
Visual AIDS, James Cohan Gallery, New York, NY

Anonyme Zeichner 5, Blutenweiss- Ram fur Kunst, Berlin, Germany

Perspectives, Brooks Museum of Art, Memphis, TN
Curator:  Michael Rooks

Cooper Union Summer Residency Exhibition, New York, NY

Lucky Seven, TAG Art Gallery, Nashville, TN

Detritus, Walsh Library Gallery, Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ

2006
Opening (06-07), Drawing Room, Portland, ME

Visual AIDS, Sikkema Jenkins Gallery, New York, NY

Kite Invitational, A.N. Bush Gallery, Salem Art Association, Salem, OR

2005
The Air Show, Alternate Currents Gallery, Boston, MA

New Art 2005, Michael Price Contemporary, Boston, MA
Juror: Linda Norden

2004
Anything But Paper Prayers, Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston MA

Emerging Artists, Barrington Center for the Arts, Gordon College, Wenham, MA

2003
Local Motives, Revolving Museum, Lowell, MA
Curator: Jerry Beck

2001
Light, Cambridge Art Association, MA
Juror: Adam Weinberg

1994-1996
Student Exhibition, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY