Jessica Frelinghuysen

Jessica Frelinghuysen sculpts wearable objects and creates performances and events to help negotiate social anxieties while continually seeking to reconcile the separation between the individual and society. When encountering a new place, Frelinghuysen will usually spend a long time observing, sketching, talking to people, and trying to figure out how she fits into the particular environment. She is not afraid of the absurd. In fact, she appreciates the importance of humor as a vehicle. Her installations and public performances provide a mirror to our current social tendencies, often producing delight in the viewer while giving cause to pause and reflect on the world around us.  

Frelinghuysen holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master of Architecture degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work has been shown at the International Print Center New York, The Mattress Factory, The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, and at Art Windsor-Essex (formerly known as the Art Gallery of Windsor), among others. She has been awarded artist residencies at the Headlands Center for the Arts, Sculpture Space, Anderson Ranch Center for the Arts, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. For well over a decade, Frelinghuysen has called Hamtramck—a small yet highly diverse city nestled within the bosom of Detroit—her home.

Frelinghuysen is the recipient of both a 2021 Gilda Award and a 2023 Kresge Artist Fellowship.