Biography

Jesse Blumenthal is an internationally exhibited, museum collected Artist and Educator residing in Missoula, Montana. In 2020 Blumenthal's studio work was exhibited at The Missoula Art Museum, Yellowstone Art Museum, Western Cast Iron Art Alliance Invitational, and Hereford College in the UK. In 2021 they held a Duo exhibition in collaboration with Karl Schweisow at Terrain Gallery in Spokane, WA. In 2022 Blumenthal's solo exhibition “Endemic” was shown at Holter Museum of Art in Helena, MT. Their community educational practice has been awarded six separate Montana Arts Council Artists in Schools and Communities Grants (supported by The National Endowment for the Arts), multiple residencies in Missoula, Mt and Gunnison,CO County Public Schools, and earned them a position as Adjunct Assistant Professor in Sonic Arts at The University of Montana. Blumenthal was raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; attended UMass Amherst, earning a BFA in Sculpture in 2007; completed graduate work at The University of Montana, earning an MFA in 2019. They serve as the Director of Performance for the National Conference on Contemporary Cast Iron Art and Practice, and the Executive Director for Missoula Community Radio.

Jesse’s studio work explores the Intermountain West by reflecting on the transition from an extraction to tourism based economy; strains and gains of the spaces between Man and their Environment. Recent work explores industrial materials and consumer technology in interdisciplinary arrangements that reflect on the natural environment. The clash of the natural represented within the inherently processed human material creates an ironic tension in the work that can be witnessed throughout the landscape of the industrialized west.

The high mountains of Southwestern Colorado were home base for both studio and community based art practices, rooted in the industrial arts, for almost a decade before moving to Montana in 2016. Through educational opportunities presented by working in industrial materials in a community forward environment, Blumenthal has broadened the reach and accessibility of their practice. The open inclusion of participants into Blumenthal’s artistic practice references contemporary political topics such as capitalism and socialism, social topics based around community and accessibility, and artistic movements such as Relational Aesthetics, Fluxus, and Immersive/Participatory Events.