Artist's Statement

For most of my life, I've felt more stable while traveling, and less secure while living in a home. Throughout my childhood, my dad, older brother and I were constantly on the move. Long-term housing was a fairy tale to me- something on television - an abstract idea rolling in my imagination. Sometimes I would get curious and want to stay put in one place, yet I would never feel comfortable when we would stop to live in cities for months, or even one or two years at a time.

My dad always made our traveling a fun adventure, which helped ameliorate the stressfulness of the moves. For example, he always filled the trunk with fun stuff to play with. We would stop to eat sandwiches and play sports until we were exhausted, or had to hit the road again. Traveling adventures, like our picnics in the park, are still very much alive in me and are still playing back in my memory.

My transitory childhood spilled in to my adult life and my studio practice. I have made most of my art in precarious spaces, such as hallways, porches, benches, trains, buses, cars and while at work. I have primarily used impermanent materials, which I often find while perambulating through cities for hours and miles at a time.

With perseverance, I have managed to live in one state (California) for over 10 years. Even though I still make art on the go, I now appreciate the stability of having a permanent studio. My studio is like an altar of photos, drawings, writings, personal gifts from friends, and random ephemera I have collected through the years. The arrangement of these memory-laden items creates a space where I feel "at home" and grounded. Like the contents of my dad's trunk, they inspire me to imagine and play, but instead of traveling across the country, I am now traveling inside myself and within the stories of the past. I feel like a tree: I am rooted in one place, yet constant movement, like that of the xylem and phloem inside a tree, exists inside me.

Artist's Bio

Veronica De Jesus was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in many American cities.  After attending community colleges in the Sacramento area, she was accepted to the San Francisco Art Institute, where she graduated with honors in 1998.  For three years following her graduation, De Jesus showed at the Jenn Joy Gallery in downtown San Francisco. While holding down three jobs, she learned how to read and write braille. From 1999 to 2001, she taught arts and crafts to the blind community at the Lighthouse for the Blind in San Francisco.  In 2001, De Jesus was accepted to the Master of Fine Arts program at UC Berkeley.  The Department of Art Practice awarded her the Eisner Award twice, once for each year of the program.  Upon graduating, De Jesus was granted a year-long residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, California.  She has shown in the San Francisco Bay Area and is scheduled to show in November 2005 at the Linc Gallery in downtown San Francisco.  De Jesus is a member of the Sound Shack, a small group of artists dedicated to providing a space for dialogue through sound technology, journalism and visual art.   The Sound Shack has performed locally in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is currently working on a project for fall 2005.   De Jesus currently lives and has an art studio in Oakland, California.