Diagram in the Mountains

This pieces is on the UNK campus in the Discovery Hall, second floor NW hallway.

Jeff Ballard currently lives in Sioux Falls, SD, where he teaches University art classes and manages the USF art galleries. He earned his MFA at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. His work is included in many collections, has been included in many exhibitions, and received several awards.

Artist Statement:
I have worked for my family’s asphalt paving and maintenance company for 20 years, and spent an immense amount of time performing the seemingly unsentimental tasks of repairing broken-down equipment. This work led me to search for the intersection of the industrial labor that I was performing and my artistic interests and practices. I began collecting parts and diagrams that I found interesting and drawing parts as I removed them from the machines. I began to draw connections between the process of understanding how the smaller parts function within the whole of the machine and my own journey of self-discovery.