Education

B.F.A., Minnesota State University-Moorhead
M.F.A., Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Courses Taught

• Advanced Studio Problems
• Art History
• C.R.E.A.T.E. Living Learning Community
• Papermaking
• Principles of Visual Organization
• Sculpture
• Senior Studio Seminar
• Women Artists

Career Highlights

Jill Odegaard is a professor and the chair for the Art Department at Cedar Crest. She has an ongoing exhibition record that reaches from coast to coast and into Canada.

Dialogue and interaction are underlying factors in her artwork. Through both her studio practice with paper pulp, fabric and armature building and her community engagement work focusing on direct exchange with people, she explores the potential of both materials and processes. She earned her MFA in 1996 from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and her BFA in 1991 from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Ever since grade school when the art teacher brought the “art cart” to her classroom, Odegaard has had a strong connection to her art teachers. They served as her role models as she pursued her undergraduate and master’s level degrees in art. Odegaard sought her MFA for two reasons: first, as a way of formally committing to a life in art and second, to earn the credentials needed to teach art at the college level. Odegaard has been teaching at Cedar Crest College since the fall 2000 semester.

Odegaard has a great deal of teaching experience beyond her years at Cedar Crest. She served as an art instructor at Minnesota State University Moorhead, as adjunct faculty in the Interior Design Department of North Dakota State University and as visiting artist at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. She has also taught workshops at the Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY.

College-Level Teaching Experience

• Cedar Crest College, Assistant Professor of Art, Sculpture Department, Allentown, Pa., Fall 2000- present
• Moorhead State University, Instructor, Art Department, Moorhead, Minn.
  • Fall 1997-Summer 1999: full-time fixed-term appointment
  • Fall 1996-Summer 1997: part-time appointment
• North Dakota State University, Adjunct Faculty, Interior Design Department, Fargo N.D., Fall 1996
• Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Teaching Assistant, Papermaking Studio, Minneapolis Minn., 1995-1996

Other Teaching-Related Experience

Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, N.Y., papermaking/sculpture workshop, August 2003, July 2009 and papermaking workshop, August 2001Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, Visiting Artist, May 2002Penland School of Craft, Penland, N.C., Studio Assistant, papermaking workshop, Summer 2000Pacific Northwest College of Art and Design, Continuing Education, Portland, Ore., Teacher, Young Artist Program, 1999-2000Creative Art Studio, High School Art Program, Fargo N.D., Visiting Artist, sculpture workshop, March 1999Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn.

• Plein Aire Workshop, papermaking workshop with artists from Israel, Russia, Canada and the United States, June 1998
• Minnesota Arts Experience (MAX) Program, papermaking with high school art teachers, June 1996

Plains Art Museum, Fargo, N.D.

• Papermaking workshop with junior high students, June 1998
• Advisor, Tri-College Mural Project (student collaboration between three area colleges), 1997-98

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

• Arts Educators of Minnesota, papermaking workshop with art instructors (K-12), October 1996
• Minnesota Arts Experience (MAX) Program, papermaking workshop, July 1996
• Minnesota Scholastic Arts Workshop, basketry workshop, February 1996

Northern Clay Center, St. Paul, Minn., 1991-1992, instructor for summer and after school youth programs.Bloomington Art Center, Bloomington, Minn., 1992, instructor for summer and after school youth programs.Creative Art Studio, Fargo, N.D., 1990-1991Moorhead Public Schools, Moorhead, Minn., teacher, after school and summer art instruction, 1991Creative Art Studio, Fargo, N.D., Artist in Residence, ceramic studio, 1990-1991

Solo Exhibitions

• East Stroudsburg University, East Stroudsburg, Pa., October 2004
• “Strata,” Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, Mich., May 2004
• “Material Metaphors,” Tompkins College Center Gallery, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pa., March 2002
• “Strategies,” L&B Viewing Room, Portland, Ore., March 2001
• “Intersecting Planes,” Portland Building Installation, Regional Arts and Culture Council, Portland Ore., July 2000
• GK Gallery, Cooperstown, N.D., April 2000
• “Alignment,” Creative Art Studio, Fargo, N.D., March 1998
• M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, April 1996
• Creative Art Studio, Fargo, N.D., January 1991
• “Inscape,” B.F.A. Exhibition, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., September 1990

Group Exhibitions

• “Goodbye to Old Things,” Danspace Projects, New York City, February 2004, set design and collaboration with choreographer Jennifer Allen
• Soo Visual Arts Center, Minneapolis, December 2002
• “Circumstantial Evidence,” Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, January 2002
• Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges, Faculty Exhibition, Williams Visual Arts Building, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., December 2001
• “A Life in Art,” an exhibition of contemporary women artists, Lehigh University, Girdler Gallery, Bethlehem, Pa., November 2001
• “Off the Wall,” Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, Portland, Ore., May 2000
• “Negotiating Traditions,” Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, November 1999
• Woman’s Art Exhibition, GK Gallery, Cooperstown, N.D., May 1999
• “Art on the Plains,” Plains Art Museum, juried exhibition, Fargo, N.D., December 1998
• Winter Show, GK Gallery, Cooperstown, N.D., December 1998
• “Paper Bizarre,” Raymond Gallery, St. Paul, Minn., November 1998
• “Multiple Miniatures,” nine-site exhibition, Moorhead, Minn.; Fargo, N.D.; Sante Fe, N.M.; Richmond, Va.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Murphysboro, Ill.; St. Louis; Portland, Ore.; South Bend, Ind., February and March 1998
• “Papermaking: Twin Cities Resources,” Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, June 1998
• Faculty Exhibition, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., October 1997
• Franconia Sculpture Park, Visiting Artist Program, Shafer, Minn., July 1997
• “Re-imaging the Landscape,” Katherine Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, June 1997
• Faculty Exhibition, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., September 1996
• “Selections ’96,” Minneapolis College of Art and Design, juried exhibition, Minneapolis, Minn. , August 1996
• “Room,” No Name Gallery at the Soap Factory, juried exhibition, Minneapolis, July 1996
• Women Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM), 17th Annual Juried Exhibition, Minneapolis, July 1996
• “Inflections,” MCAD Gallery, Calhoun Square, Minneapolis, November 1995
• “Seeing is Believing,” MCAD Gallery, Calhoun Square, Minneapolis, March 1995
• Merit Scholarship exhibition, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, April 1995
• Paper exhibition, MCAD Gallery, Calhoun Square, Minneapolis, November 1994
• Speedboat Gallery, 5th Anniversary Exhibition, St. Paul, Minn., August 1993
• Bloomington Art Center, Norwest Bank Lobby, Bloomington, Minn., July 1992
• Speedboat Gallery, St. Paul , Minn., September 1992
• Coffee Gallery, Minneapolis, June 1991
• Elan Gallery, Bismarck, N.D., March 1991
• Fargo Moorhead Regional Art Show, Fargo, N.D., October 1990
• Moorhead

Studio Interests

• Papermaking
• The use of handmade paper (2D and 3D)
• Fiber art techniques
• Sculpture
• Works with all sorts of materials

Inspiration

“My influences are drawn from art history and contemporary applications in art,” says Jill. “My work is also influenced by basic design concepts and the Bauhaus aesthetic. I find purpose when I am working with materials.”

Jill’s Artist Statement

“My work explores the tactile and ambient nature of design through the use of fabric, handmade paper and other mixed media. My process is to create structure while deconstructing, weave as I unravel, and bring order to the accumulation of material, marks and stitches. Influential sources include patterns in nature, as well as formal elements of design.

The focus of my work is to explore contemporary interpretations of the grid as they relate to craft traditions and formats of quilting and weaving, as well as the mark-making potential of stitches as they come together to create pattern and texture. Structures and forms evolve and patterns are revealed as emphasis is placed on the spaces between and the marks around edges that are an essential component to the whole.”

Memberships

Jill is a member of Foundations in Art Theory and Education (FATE).

Panel Talks/Lectures

• Finding People, Places and Patterns, N.D. Textile Project, Plains Art Museum, Fargo N.D., August 2010
• Glasgow School of Art, artist talk, Glasgow, Scotland, May 2002
• “Sources and Outcomes,” Tompkins College Center Gallery, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pa., March 2002
• Women’s Liberation Movement, Women’s History Month, Cedar Crest College, Allentown, Pa., March 2002
• Women Caucus for the Arts, 30th Annual Conference, Philadelphia , February 2002
• Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges, Grossman Gallery, Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., February 2002

Administration and Related Experience

• Gallery Director, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., 1997-1998
• Handweavers Guild of America, Member Services Coordinator, St. Paul, Minn., 1993-1994
• Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Office Manager, St. Paul, Minn., 1991-1993
• Northern Clay Center, Sales Gallery Assistant, St. Paul, Minn., 1991-1992

Awards

• Merit Scholarship, Honorable Mention, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, 1995
• Cum Laude, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., 1991

Study and Travel Abroad

• Facilitator, Study tour in Italy, Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minn., May 1999
• Glasgow School of Art, six-week student exchange, Glasgow Scotland, 1987
• Summer Scotland Art Program, four-week group tour, Moorhead State University Moorhead, Minn., and Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, Pa., 1986