Jason Lee Starin
2024 Sarah Frederick Scholar
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Through intuitive making with his hands, Jason Lee Starin’s work strives to extend the role of functionality beyond mere utility and towards a possibility that the making act is a haptic necessity which defines and sustains our human identity. Employing ceramics, discarded objects, and construction materials to create sculptures, his art practice attempts to find connections between craft, escapism, and emotional awareness. Artworks reference geological landforms, geometric structures, and the myths of creation and survival that intertwine our imagined and physical identities.
Starin holds an MFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art and Oregon College of Art and Craft, and a BFA in ceramics from Grand Valley State University. In 2017, Starin received an Independence Foundation Fellowship Grant to research his interest in Geomythology during a two-month stay at the NES Artist Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland. Starin has worked at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, BDDW, Mudshark Studios, Michael Curry Design, The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, and Ferris State University.
