Draft:Jessica Labatte

Jessica Labatte (born 1981) is an American visual artist who lives and works in Winfield, Illinois. Labatte is the Director of the School of Art and Design at Northern Illinois University. Alongside a group of her students, Labatte holds the current Guinness world record for largest paper snowflake. Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including Miller Institute for Contemporary Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA ; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois ; Silver Eye Center For Photography, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida ; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois; and Higher Pictures, NYC, among others. Her work is represented by Western Exhibitions in Chicago.

Early life and education
Jessica Labatte was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a child, she played on competitive boy's ice hockey teams. After she broke her arm while playing, she attended a Canadian boarding school in order to play on their competitive girl's hockey team. While there, Labette became interested in photography after taking a class offered by the school.

In 2004, Labatte received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and in 2009, she received a Master of Fine Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Artwork
Jessica Labatte’s studio-based photographic work is an investigation in photographic illusion, while respecting the material processes of photography. Labatte’s recent interrelated series of color photographs explore photographic notions of the visible and invisible, the present and withdrawn as they champion beauty in the everyday as a radical gesture in our contemporary moment.

Career
Jessica Labatte has been an educator since 2009. She started working at Northern Illinois University in 2012 as a visiting assistant professor before starting her tenure track in 2014. Labatte was appointed Director of the School of Art and Design in 2023.

Jessica Labatte and her Advanced Photography Post Production class collaborated with campus and local communities to make history in March 2022 by creating the largest paper snowflake in the world. The record was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records

Exhibitions
This is a list of select exhibitions of Jessica Labatte's work, separated by the type of exhibition and listed by year of exhibition.

Solo Exhibitions

 * 2023 Come. Hither. Look! Specialist, Seattle, WA
 * 2022 Knee-deep in the cosmic overwhelm, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
 * 2020 Sun Showers for Nocturnal Blue Jays Elgin Community College, Elgin, IL
 * 2019 Shadowier Herbarium, Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL
 * 2018 Shade Garden, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
 * 2015 Underwater Highway, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
 * 2012 Jessica Labatte, Golden, New York, NY
 * 2010 Jessica Labatte: UBS 12 x 12 New Artists/New Work, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
 * 2010 Solo Show: Jessica Labatte, Humble Arts Foundation, New York, NY
 * 2010 Lazy Shadows, Golden, Chicago, IL

Group Exhibitions

 * 2023 Transcendental Arrangements, Miller Institute for Contemporary Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, curated by Elizabeth Chodos
 * 2020 scry til you know why, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation, Chicago, IL
 * 2019 Extended Self: Transformations and Connections, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
 * 2018 Picture Fiction: Kenneth Josephson and Contemporary Photography, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
 * 2017 INDECISIVE MOMENT, Ringel Gallery, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
 * 2017 Painters & Photographers, Reilly Gallery, Smith Center for the Arts, Providence College. Providence, RI
 * 2017 The Newest Romantics: Sculptors of Botanical Photography, New Art Center, Newtonville, MA
 * 2017 Underlying system is not known, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
 * 2016 How High?, Left Field, 1242 Monterey Street, Suite #110, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
 * 2016 Workshop in Light and Color: The Legacy of the New Bauhaus, Atrium Gallery, University of New Mexico, Ranchos de Taos, NM
 * 2016 Materials and Processes. Silver Eye Center for Photography. Pittsburgh, PA.
 * 2016 Habeas Corpus. Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art.
 * 2014 New Cats in Art Photography, Humble Arts Foundation, New York, NY
 * 2013 Think First/Shoot Later, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
 * 2013 Color Acting, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL
 * 2013 Fragment: Sampling the Modern, Elmhurst Art Museum, Elmhurst, IL
 * 2012 duckrabbit, Adds Donna, Chicago, IL
 * 2012 Dramatic Chromatic, Plug Projects, Kansas City, MO


 * 2011 Wax Apple, Bodega, Philadelphia, PA
 * 2011 Always the Young Strangers, Higher Pictures, New York, NY
 * 2011 Notes on Notes on "Camp", Invisible Exports, New York, NY


 * 2010 P's & Q's, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL (curated by Shannon Stratton and Jeff Ward)

Permanent Collections
Jessica Labatte has work in the permanent collection of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago.

Residencies, awards, and grants

 * 2014 Light Work, Syracuse, NY
 * 2013 Grellner Scholarship, Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
 * 2012 CAAP Grant, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, Chicago, IL
 * 2010 Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT
 * 2010 Ox-Bow School of Art, Saugatuck, MI
 * 2008 MFA Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
 * 2008 James Weinstein Memorial Fellowship, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
 * 2008 Student Association Artist Grant, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL

Personal life
Labette lives in Winfield, Illinois. She is married to fellow artist Eric May; the couple have two children.