Jodie Nelson is a curator, consultant, and educator trusted by revered artists and museums. Jodie's curatorial leadership supporting artistic innovations is highly sought-after and chronicled in The New York Times, PBS, Seattle Times, Forbes, Hyperallergic, Culture Trip, and Art in America.
Nelson's 20+year career involves assisting artists realize their ambitious site-specific projects including Judy Chicago, Barbara Earl Thomas, and Dale Chihuly. With studies in Museology from University of Washington and the Artist Endowed Foundation Initiative from The Aspen Institute, she brings success to the art world with strategic programming inside artist studios, museums, fine art galleries, and non profits including Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) who's legacy includes Lydia Lunch, James Turrell and Nirvana. Refract / The Seattle Glass Experience, the nation's newest platform highlighting the region's profound impact on the American Studio Glass Movement, also sought Jodie's insights to program the inaugural year resulting in 70+ events including museum exhibitions, open artist studios, demonstrations, and gallery shows.
Fueled by her experiences and the power of art, Jodie launched a career culminating initiative, the School at Press Reign. Nelson's online school has an artist program where she connects artists with strategies to elevate their career and a connoisseur program for art lovers to expand their knowledge of art. From behind the scenes assisting artists, to fine art advising, to art education - these perspectives give participants a wealth of knowledge to learn from an expert and art world veteran.
In Jodie's own words, "You’ll find my leadership and experience exceed expectations: from programming large scale platforms with strategic events to private studio operations to programs designed for collectors. Check out how these have been chronicled on PBS and quoted in the New York Times.
After earning a BA in Graphic Arts & Computer Art, Jodie began her career as an award-winning research and travel grant recipient taking her to Mawangdui, an archaeological site located in central China. Inspired by the feminine divine, matriarchs, and goddesses she honed her photography skills by documenting and selling photos of UNESCO Heritage Sites
throughout Asia.
In 1999 while working in Nepal, she expanded her business as a curator, producing photography exhibits, along with art directing, branding and videos for the world's most thrilling river expeditions and river conservation. Her photo credits are seen side-by-side renowned photographers for National Geographic.
Jodie returned to Washington and continued river expeditions with global leaders of the industry while developing relationships with artists. Understanding the complexities of making hand-blown glass, Jodie interprets the process of the world’s foremost artists working in glass. Hand-selected, she produced and narrated hot shop demonstrations at the Museum of Glass audiences. Later continuing her education in Museology at the University of Washington, Jodie brought major success to the world of art as a high-level curator — she expanded programming at Chihuly Studio, contemporary art non-profits,
and commercial art galleries.
Jodie works with emerging artists to highly revered master artists who create beauty, cause tension, and question belief systems. Working hands-on with JUDY CHICAGO feminist icon and Time Magazine's most influential people in the world 2018, BARBARA EARL THOMAS painter, author and essayist, and DALE CHIHULY, one of the most innovative artists working in the medium of glass. Joining the legendary team at Chihuly Studio in 2011 with a specialty in fine art prints Jodie also worked on Chihuly exhibition projects at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas Arboretum, Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, important legacy projects Chihuly Garden and Glass, and the Chihuly Sanctuary at the Fred & Pamela Cancer Center. Jodie has an invaluable on-going role with team Chihuly.
My expertise making an impact include:
• Curatorial • Strategic Program Design • Art Advisory •
Jodie thrives while being hands-on, assisting world-renowned artists inside their studio. She is the true embodiment of the definition of a curator, "one who will take care of every detail."
Services also include:
• Curatorial/Exhibitions • Curatorial/Collections • Studio Assistant (media variable) • (AEFI) Long Term Strategic Planning • Archiving • Art Fairs • Publishing Prints & Multiples • Sales Management • Commissions • Books + Merchandise • Arts Education • Public Speaking • Stragetic Programming •
Known for her collaborative work style with multiple
agencies, Jodie manages and produces events while
implementing highly - successful strategies.
A selection of projects include:
Mark Your Calendars: APRIL 2023.
Curator. Earth Creative uses the power of the arts to raise awareness about climate change to advance climate justice for all. With Publication.
Curator. Museum of Northwest Art. In A Precarious Edge, Steve Klein and Meg Holgate incorporate different media to explore a contemplative dialog on the beauty, benefits, and boundaries of our essential habitats. Inside this immersive exhibition, one is also surrounded by a symphonic creation titled, Terra Nostra II, by Grammy-nominated composer Christophe Chagnard a delicate reality surfaces asking the viewer to reflect on a presumptive outlook with a new awareness.
2021 - 2023 Curator, Consultant for the City of Shoreline (WA), A three-woman art exhibit titled, Connecting Systems. Artists included, Raya Friday, Kait Rhoads, Carol Milne. Programming included ( sold-out) live glassblowing demonstration with Netflix Blown Away contestant and key contributor to studio glass movement Dan Friday.
Consultant. Programming Architect. Platform focusing on the American studio glass movement with over 70 events with museum exhibitions, fine art gallery shows, hotshop demonstrations, art center experiences, and open studio's with the world's most renowned artists working with the creative modes of glass. We answer the question, "Where can we see more glass?" with strategic concurrent events covering 4-days. Featured in Forbes, Hyperallergenic.
Curator, Program Manager, Sales, Drawing Assistant to Dale Chihuly. Specialty includes Glass on Glass and limited edition fine art prints.
Past projects include catalog raisonné, R&D Glass on Glass, copyrights, sales, publishing multiples, negotiating sales, high profile book signings, legacy projects including Chihuly Sancuary and Chihuly Garden and Glass.
Installation assistant to Judy Chicago. BE NO MORE an immersive dry ice installation commissioned by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Chicago speaking truth to power. Throughout the day and into the evening, thousands of onlookers were attracted to the installation which spelled out the word "truth" as a metaphor for a new and disturbing reality in the U.S., the idea of alternative facts. In the evening, the word was lit from within with pink flares, which turned the entire environment a pearly pink. After dark, there was a second lighting which caused the brightly lit word to be reflected in the adjacent glass wall of the museum. Then, the lights faded and slowly, the ice sublimated (or disappeared).
Studio Assistant. Cutter for Barbara Earl Thomas. Multiple projects including EXPO Chicago. Thomas is a northeast icon and is a graduate of University of Washington with Master of Arts in 1977. She counts herself most fortunate to have had mentorships with Michael Spafford and Jacob Lawrence who have both influenced her work.
Curatorial Team. Fine Art Gallery Show. Friesen Fine Art. Sanctioned by Seeds of Compassion-a 5-day collaboration with the Dalai Lama. Featured 40 Northwest artists and their unique interpretations of the question "What Does Compassion Look Like?".
Curatorial Team. Fine Art Gallery Show. Friesen Fine Art. Featured over 50 artists with variable art media. Select guest artists include Yoko Ono, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, David Hockney, Doug and Mike Starn, Patrick Dougherty, Mark Ryden. Traveling Exhibit. With Publication.
Curator. Center on Contemporary Art. Programming includes (Un)Sanctioned: 13 Pacific Northwest Urban Artists resulting in collective mural with Publication. Post Glamism. Glam art in the 21st Century with Publication. Many More.
Jodie will manage
your project by understanding the big picture while nurturing the details.
She will reign over all stages with a disciplined creative approach and a work style tailored to your needs.
Email Jodie to discuss how Press Reign will elevate your project & exceed
your goals.