Jaclyn Gordyan
MI
Gordyan’s multidisciplinary work arises from our ancestral connection to nature, shaping spaces where the soul can dwell and rest.
MessageLiving and working in the deciduous forests of Michigan, Jaclyn Gordyan is an artist and sculptor. Gordyan has been a practicing artist since 1999 and holds a BFA with summa cum laude distinction from Columbus College of Art and Design. Her areas of focus included fine art, design, and art history. Despite having only recently started exhibiting her work and sharing her practice beyond her studio, Gordyan quickly gained recognition, including securing an international artist residency in 2024, acceptance into an NYC artist group she exhibits with, showing at Upstate Art Weekend, having her work in international publications such as Studio Visit Magazine and Create!, and being shortlisted for an international Emerging Female Artist Award in 2023.
Gordyan believes that the human connection to nature is ancestral. Through her work, she recognizes this primal connection as she is stirred by humans as a species and the distracting world we’ve created for ourselves. She sees the natural world as a place worth our attention. As a result of these influences, she continually experiments with processes, mediums, and concepts as the nature of the work itself takes on a life of its own, not remaining static but ever-evolving.
Gordyan has worked in various mediums, including oils, ceramics, raku, woven textures, acrylic, graphite, and photography. Her work has grown from realism into an abstract and sculpture breadth, where she integrates natural-found materials and the classical techniques she’s practiced over her career.
Her work is informed by Abstract Minimalism, Art Informel, Gestural Abstraction, and the natural world. She studied with Turps Banana Correspondence Course as well as under multidisciplinary artist Ty Nathan Clark. Gordyan is influenced by artists such as Leonardo Drew, Lee Krasner, Andy Goldsworthy, Mary Oliver, Jack Whitten, Yuval Noah Harari, Magdalena Abakanowicz, El Antasui, and Ibrahim Mahama.
She has exhibited and published her work internationally and across the U.S. in places such as New York City, Chicago, L.A., Michigan and Newfoundland. She hopes to continue to experience new locations through artist residencies as her work is infused with new qualities that strengthen her vision and impact.
Statement
Our connection to nature is ancestral — a deep, wordless knowing. Through my work, I seek to give that knowing form, creating places where the soul can find stillness.
Through my work, I recognize this primal connection as I am stirred by humans as a species, our emotional experiences that drive our behavior, and the natural world from which we came. As a result of these influences, I continually experiment with processes, mediums, and concepts as the nature of the work itself takes on a life of its own. becoming a home for the soul.
My process involves foraging, preservation, and creation in equal parts. I often travel to new locations to discover and collect organic material. Once I have the materials in the studio, I begin sculpting and preserving them through drying, resins, and hardeners as needed. Initially, this process is slow, allowing me to meditate on the aspects of the piece that drew me to it and highlight something of emotional resonance.
Through each body of work I create, I use a mix of materials, dimensional, flat, soft, structural to express human experiences. By centering on a specific story, I make meaning and present a lens to view and feel the natural objects. By bringing together a resonant emotional story with an unconventional use of organic material or form, I build back our connection and create a place for the soul to feel itself reflected.