Nature plays a predominant role in my work. I am deeply influenced by the natural world around me: the borderline where land and water come together, the undulating and synchronized movements of a flock of birds in flight, and the stark silhouette dormant trees cast in winter. I abstract these already abstracted shapes and forms to create pieces that are freed from their geographical, biological, and botanical reference.
My work frequently involves multiple parts: pieces that are separate yet work together to create a united whole. Although the individual parts function as pieces on their own, together they create a larger, complete image.
Jessica Cadkin was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and grew up in Napa, California. She received a BA in Sculpture and Painting from San Francisco State University. Her work has appeared in group shows in northern California and internationally including Headlands Center for the Arts, Southern Exposure, di Rosa Preserve, Bateman Foundation Gallery of Nature, Bedford Gallery, Root Division, and the Berkeley Art Center.
SELECT EXHIBITIONS
2024
Cut Paste Create: The Art of Collage, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California (jurors: Kimberley Acebo Arteche, Co-Executive Director, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA; Rangsook Yoon, PhD, Senior Curator, Sarasota Art Museum, Sarasota, FL)
Spring Invitational, 500 Capp Street Foundation and Berkeley Art Center, San Francisco, California
a small body, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
2023
de Young Open 2023 (the Process Collective), de Young Museum, San Francisco, California
Things with Wings, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, California
Postal Collage Pittsburgh, Shaler North Hills Library, Pittsburgh, Pennslvania
Postal Collage Project No.12, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California
Aviary, Cedar Street Gallery, Berkeley, California
Stopped in Motion: Pandemic Art Quilts, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
Art for the Winter Solstice, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
2022
Postal Collage Project No.11, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California
Plume, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
Postal Collage Project No.11, Berkeley Commonplace, Berkeley, California
10200262004 (with Ruth Tabancay and Charlie Milgrim), Back Room Gallery, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
XX@XV: 15th Anniversary Group Show, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
2021
Rupture & Rapture, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
Collage Variations (with Kathleen King and Raymond L. Haywood), Back Room Gallery, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
2020
Re:Vision 2020 Holiday Group Show, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
Castaways: Art from the Material World, The Robert Bateman Centre, Bateman Foundation, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada (March 6 – September 27)
2019
8th Annual Autumn Lights Festival (installation), Gardens at Lake Merritt, Oakland, California (October 17 – 19)
Small Works, Contemporary Art Projects at Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri (October 1 – December 15)
Member Show, Richmond Arts Center, Richmond, California
2018
Thread Count: New Directions in Fiber Art, Arts Benicia, Benicia, California (juror: Susan Taber Avila)
Melting Point, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California (January 11 – February 10, 2018)
2017
50|50, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, California (juror: Jack Fisher, Jack Fisher Gallery) (September 1 – October 1, 2017)
Wild, Root Division, San Francisco, California (juror: Marisa Aragona)
2016
HERE, Part 1: 2016 BAC Artists Annual Exhibition, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California
Autumn Lights Festival (Installation), Gardens at Lake Merritt, Oakland, California
Whale Watching (installation), A Stark Project, Berkeley, California
2016 Left Coast Annual Juried Exhibition, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, California (juror: Lucía Sanromán, Director of Visual Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts)
2015
Autumn Lights Festival (Installation), Gardens at Lake Merritt, Oakland, California
Botanica: All Things Plant Life, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California (jurors: Ken Harman, Director of Hashimoto Contemporary and Spoke Art and MacKenzie Stevens, Assistant Curator of the Hammer Museum)
2013
This Will Never Work, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (juror: Corrina Peipon, Assistant Curator, Hammer Museum)
45th Annual Textile Exhibit, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California
2012
De-Mobbing, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, California (curated by Brian Karl)
2011
California! Annual Juried Exhibition, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, California (jurors: Chandra Cerrito, Chandra Cerrito Contemporary and Svea Lin Sol, Swarm Gallery)
Outlandish: Contemporary Depictions of Nature, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California (juror: Alison Gass, Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
43rd Annual Textile Exhibit, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California
Juried Annual 2011, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California (selections by Paola Santoscoy, Lead Curator, 2010 Biennial of the Americas)
2010
Borders, Root Division, San Francisco, California (jurors: Julio Cesar Morales, Adjunct Curator, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Visiting Faculty, SFAI, Artist; Lucy Kalyani Lin, Artist, Independant Curator & Program Associate, SF Arts Commission; and Michelle Mansour, Executive Director, Root Division)
25th January Juried Show, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes Station, California (juror: Kenneth Baker, Art Critic for the San Francisco Chronicle)
2009
4th National Juried Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, California (juror: Janet Bishop, Curator of Painting and Sculpture, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art)
Hare and the Hounds 2, 18 Reasons, San Francisco, California
(un)Natural, di Rosa Preserve, Napa, California (curated by Michael Schwager)
2008
We Are California History, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, California
2008 National Juried Exhibition, ACCI Gallery, Berkeley, California (jurors: Suzanne Baizerman, Former Curator, Crafts and Decorative Arts, Oakland Museum of California; and Kate Eilertsen, Interim Director of Visual Arts, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SF)
Separation, Alignment, Cohesion, Cricket Engine Gallery, Oakland, California
Hare and the Hounds, Blue Space Gallery, San Francisco, California
2007
7th Annual Art & Soul Festival (installation), Oakland, California
New Visions 2007, Pro Arts Gallery, Oakland, California (jurors: Eduardo Pineda, Director of Education at the Museum of the African Diaspora; and Karen Kienzle, Assistant Director of Exhibitions, Education and Community Outreach at the de Saisset Museum)
Linda Braz, Jessica Cadkin, and Jessica Serran (installation), West Oakland Train Station, Oakland, California
2007 Indoor Sculpture Exhibition, Santa Clara City Hall, Santa Clara, California
39th Annual Textile Exhibit, Olive Hyde Art Gallery, Fremont, California
Multiple Choice, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California (juror: Marian Parmenter)
2007 January Juried Show, Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, California (juror: Patricia Watts, Chief Curator at the Sonoma County Museum)
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2023
Stopped in Motion: Pandemic Art Quilts, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, California
2021
Picnic, Window Exhibition, Niad Art Center, Richmond, California
2020
The Awful Truth, San Francisco State University, Associated Students Art Gallery, San Francisco, California (cancelled due to Covid-19 pandemic)
ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE / AWARDS
2012 Djerassi Resident Artist Program, Artist Residency (waitlisted)
2011 Ragdale, Artist in Residence
2011 Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Artist in Residence (awarded, not taken)
2010 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow (artist-in-residence)
2008 Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Artist-in-Residence, Alternate Artist
2007, Coordinator’s Award recipient for “31 Birds”, Multiple Choice, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, California
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Occhialini, Stella. “’A Small Body’ and ‘Flow’ generate ecosystem-building art at Mercury 20.” The Daily Californian, March 6, 2024
Anderson, Calder. “ Quilting & The Fabric of Community.” Oakland Art Murmur, March 12, 2023
“MFA Never. 2016 Archive Project / Juried Exhibition.” Root Division. 2016. pg. 34
Swanson, Marina. “Fremont Art Gallery Presents Innovative Textile Exhibit.” The Pioneer: News, Arts & Culture for the East Bay. May 30, 2013.
Frock, Christian L. “De-Mobbing Invests in Different Futures at the Headlands Center for the Arts.” KQED Arts. February 26, 2012.
Chang, Dewitt. “How Things Are: Pro Arts’ Juried Annual 2011 surveys the field.” East Bay Express. December 8, 2010
“Borders.” Exhibition Catalogue. Root Division Gallery. Essay by Lucy Kalyani Lin. 2010.
Dalkey, Victoria. “Axis: The little gallery that could . . . go national.” The Sacramento Bee. 7 August 2009.
Kluth, Mary Anne. “‘(un)natural’ at the di Rosa Preserve.” Artweek. June 2009, Volume 40, Issue 5: pg. 12-13.
Farr, Kristin. “Epic Saturday: 18 Reasons’ Hare & Hounds.” KQED, www.kqed.org. 14 May 2009.
Hufstader, Louisa. “Group shows enliven spring art scene.” Napa Valley Register. 11 March 2009.
“Jack Fisher – Marx & Zavattero – Chandler Baer Ridway – di Rosa Preserve – Little Tree 02.21.09.” Comment by AB (Alan Bamburger). Art Business. 2009. www.artbusiness.com
“Artsheet.” Pro Arts Catalogue. June – September 2008. Exhibitions/Calendar/East Bay Open Studios
“The Visual Movement with Jessica Cadkin.” The Visual Movement. 2007.www.thevisualmovement.com
KTVU Channel 2. News at Ten. September 1, 2007 (video clip)
Brandt, William. “Artists breathe life into depot.” Oakland Tribune. 30 May 2007.
“Past Exhibits: Multiple Choice.” Sebastopol Center for the Arts, QuARTerly. Spring Summer 2007. Volume 18, Issue 2: Page 4
Walsh, Lexa. “Swarm Studios: A Conversation.” Swee(t)ART. March 2007.c
