|
Amie J. Jacobsen is a visual artist based in the Kansas City area. Her work focuses on creating sculpture, visual installations and public art.
Jacobsen’s background spans painting, illustration, and graphic design before she transitioned into three-dimensional work in 2015. She holds a BA in Studio Art from Western State Colorado University and an MFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where she taught illustration from 2006 to 2015. Her introduction to sculpture and public art began through hands-on experience working in a metal fabricator shop in the Kansas City Crossroads. Her time there shaped her practice, teaching her material intelligence, structural logic, and the realities of scale, fabrication, and permanence. After receiving her first large-scale sculpture commission in 2017, she established her own studio and workshop. Today, Jacobsen leads a design and fabrication studio working with a small team to produce public artworks, sculptural installations, and limited-edition works for institutions, municipalities, and private collectors throughout the United States. |
Artist Statement
My work focuses on creating sculptural and public installations that function as emotional landmarks—places people remember not because they instruct, but because they offer pause, recognition, and presence. I design works that are visually approachable and physically grounded, inviting engagement from people who may not consider themselves “art audiences,” while still sustaining depth through form, material, and scale.
Working with industrial materials—often steel and stainless steel, but also glass, concrete, wood, and other durable media—I shape structures that balance strength and softness, permanence and movement. I'm interested in materials typically associated with utility and infrastructure, molding them into organic forms often inspired by flora and fauna. I use these forms as symbols and metaphors that that can mold memory, emotion, and human stories. Many of my works are designed to be walked through, sat within, or encountered repeatedly over time, creating sculpture that operates simultaneously as an object and a place.
Rather than using art as commentary or critique, my practice prioritizes connection. I aim to create works that integrate into spaces as visual anchors—structures people return to, remember, and associate with a particular time, place, or shared experience. These are not meant to resolve or persuade; they are meant to remain present.
My approach is rooted in making: understanding weight, structure, fabrication, and longevity as essential components of meaning. I believe art earns its significance by the people it engages, its ability to exist fully in the world and be claimed by those who encounter it.
Working with industrial materials—often steel and stainless steel, but also glass, concrete, wood, and other durable media—I shape structures that balance strength and softness, permanence and movement. I'm interested in materials typically associated with utility and infrastructure, molding them into organic forms often inspired by flora and fauna. I use these forms as symbols and metaphors that that can mold memory, emotion, and human stories. Many of my works are designed to be walked through, sat within, or encountered repeatedly over time, creating sculpture that operates simultaneously as an object and a place.
Rather than using art as commentary or critique, my practice prioritizes connection. I aim to create works that integrate into spaces as visual anchors—structures people return to, remember, and associate with a particular time, place, or shared experience. These are not meant to resolve or persuade; they are meant to remain present.
My approach is rooted in making: understanding weight, structure, fabrication, and longevity as essential components of meaning. I believe art earns its significance by the people it engages, its ability to exist fully in the world and be claimed by those who encounter it.