Biography
Jessie McClanahan hails from Southern West Virginia, brought up in the forests and coalfields that surrounded her hometown. Her Interdisciplinary arts practice is inspired by her Appalachian upbringing and the interconnected relationships that mountain communities often have with the ecologies that they live with. This curiosity and love is made most evident in the collaborative practice she has cultivated with Fungi and plants utilizing handwoven textiles and clay.
Jessie McClanahan received her MFA from Syracuse University with a BA from West Virginia State University. She was a Tamarack Foundation Emerging Artists Fellow, with exhibitions at Governors Island in New York City, solo exhibitor in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an invited Artist in Tilcara, Argentina. Her work has been featured in publication in Timeless Textiles by Peter’s Valley, and has been recognized as an Emerging Artist for the Clay Center of West Virginia. Currently McClanahan is excited to become an adjunct professor of ceramics at Marshall University; Go Herd!