JASA MCKENZIE
Grad 2014
Studio Arts Major, German Minor
Jasa is a curator and artist based between South California and Minnesota. She is the creator and co-host of SOTA: State of the Arts, a podcast discussing critical topics in contemporary art, addressing the Twin Cities, the Midwest, and beyond. She has been working on independent projects and with arts organizations since her time at Augsburg.
If you could meet any artist/designer from any era, who would you want to have dinner with?
What have you been up to since graduation?
After I graduated, I stayed in Minnesota for two years, getting involved with The Soap Factory and Altered Esthetics while exhibiting my artwork and doing performance art. Then, I moved to New York to get my master’s degree in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts. I did a graduate internship with the Berlin Biennale. Currently, I am working for the biennial Desert X in Southern California as a Curatorial Coordinator.
What does your creative practice look like now?
Right now, I’m working on independent curatorial projects. For example, I applied for the Apexart Franchise Exhibition program by proposing an exhibition on mental illness in Japan. I am so grateful to have been awarded the opportunity to curate the project and travel to Japan to open the exhibition. I also co-host a podcast with an art historian friend called SOTA: State of the Arts, where we discuss critical topics in contemporary with a focus on the Twin Cities and greater Midwest. We put out regular episodes and have also created some exhibitions and programs locally.
In what ways did Augsburg’s Art & Design department prepare you for what you are doing?
When I was at Augsburg, I split most of my courses between digital art and painting. I also had the amazing opportunity to work alongside Jenny Wheatley in the galleries and fell in love with what she did as curator of Augsburg galleries. While I was learning to be an artist, I was also learning how to exhibit art–a combination I never wanted to separate. Even though I didn’t become a digital designer, I still use the skills I have learned from the classes I took at Augsburg all the time and it has been so helpful in my life.
What is something we would never guess about you?
I grew up on a six-thousand-acre farm in South Dakota, took care of farm animals, and drove tractors to cut crops. But now, I’m a part of the art world and have lived in some notable large cities.
