About
My artistic practice is rooted in the exploration and research of caves. I’ve been fascinated by the idea of caves since growing up on Caves Road, and for the past three years I have been caving in Texas, New Mexico and Tennessee. My visual research is informed by caves on a physical and conceptual level. Caves are nature’s abstractions: their formations and channels disorient our understanding of landscape and space. Conceptually, seeing the earth from the inside offers a unique worldview. Entering a dark, unknown space to encounter greater knowledge mirrors the artistic process where darkness becomes a medium of vision. Encountering the unknown serves as a literal and metaphorical starting point for me and my process of working. In part, as a response to the tradition of landscape painting, in which a singular point of view translated to dominion and ownership of the land, I am interested in presenting multiple points of view and entry through which to consider the land. While cave entrances have defined boundaries, the space beneath the surface does not.
My process begins in the cave and ends in the studio. While on site, I observe the natural formations, the interplay of light and shadow, and investigate the ways in which sculptural forms emerge from geological processes. This field research serves as the bedrock for my studio practice and consists of photography, videography, LiDAR scanning, as well as more traditional methods of drawing, writing, and painting. Once I have conducted my research, I work intuitively to produce a body of work. My practice consists of making paintings using digital prints, beeswax, oil paint and pastel. The digital processes ground my work in the present moment, using my own photography from cave research. The beeswax points to gravity and time of cave formations, as the liquid material is hardens into a permanent state. Through the process of layering, blurring, and pairing materials, I work with the language of abstraction to evoke a bodily response and point to a raw, interior space.
Erika Jaeggli (b. Baltimore, MD) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist who lives and works in Dallas, TX. Her artistic practice is rooted in her exploration and research into cave systems: through painting, digital photography and installations, her work addresses alternative perspectives of landscape. She received her B.A. in art history from Columbia University, M.A. from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Interactive Telecommunications Program, and M.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from the University of North Texas in Denton. Her work has been shown in Texas, Florida, California, Maryland, Arkansas and Missouri. She has done residencies at Cuttyhunk Island, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Jentel Foundation. Jaeggli’s work has been featured in New American Paintings and Studio Visit Magazine. She is on the advisory council of Texas Vignette, a non-profit dedicated to promoting and supporting women in the arts in Texas. She has been artist-in-residence at the Dallas Arboretum. She was a recipient of The Dozier Travel Grant from the Dallas Museum of Art and a TACA Pop-Up Grant. Currently, Jaeggli is a lecturer at Dallas College, The University of Texas at Dallas and The University of Texas at Arlington.
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EDUCATION
M.F.A University of North Texas, College of Visual Arts & Design, Drawing & Painting
M.A. New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, Interactive Technology Program
B.A. Columbia University, Major: Art History, Minor: German Studies
GRANTS
Dallas Museum of Art: The Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant (2021)
TACA Pop-Up Grant for Flesh & Bone at the Cedars Union (2021)
Solo Exhibitions
Peep in the Deep, Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (2022)
Erika Jaeggli: 19 Paintings, Union Gallery, Denton, TX (2021)
Flesh & Bone: New Work by Erika Jaeggli, Cedars Union Boedeker Building, Dallas, TX (2021)
FOMO, WAAS Gallery, Dallas, TX (2015)
Pantheon, The Ward Center for the Arts, Baltimore, MD (2015)
Two and Three Person Exhibitions
Territorial: New Works by Maria Villanueva, Victoria Gonzales, and Erika Jaeggli, The Union Gallery, Denton, TX (2020)
The Artist’s Garden: New Works by Alison Jardine & Erika Jaeggli, The Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, TX (2013)
Remnant: New Paintings by Sonali Khatti and Erika Jaeggli, Janette Kennedy Gallery, Dallas, TX (2013)
Selected Group Exhibitions
Chateau iii, Aldredge House, Dallas, TX (2024)
Preview Show, Giant Runt Gallery, Fort Worth, TX (2024)
Living Things, Curated by Maria Haag, Arts Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (2024)
Issaweb, Lamonte's Belly, Dallas, TX (2024)
Further Than Light or Language, Voloshyn Gallery, Miami, FL; Curator: Lilia Kudelia (2023)
VOID, SP/N Gallery, Curated by: Danielle Avram and Brian Scott, Dallas, TX (2023)
Remade/Readymade/Powerade, Dallas, TX (2021)
Reclamation: Artists Books on the Environment, San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA (2021)
Irene Rosenzweig Biennial Juried Exhibition, The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, (2021)
Rio Brazos Art Exhibition, Granbury, TX (2021)
January Group Art Show, Jones Gallery, Kansas City, MO (2021)
Vignette Art Fair, Women’s Museum at Fair Park, Dallas, TX (2018)
Vignette Art Fair, Women’s Museum at Fair Park, Dallas, TX (2017)
Inaugural Show, ModArtists Gallery, Dallas, TX (2014)
Summer Juried Show, Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, CA, Juror: Sylvia White (2013)
Trans-, The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, TX (2012)
7 Takes on a Landscape, Austin Art Connections, Austin, TX (2012)
Plano 125, Collin College, Plano, TX (2012)
Five x Seven, Arthouse, Austin, TX (2012)
The Goldilocks Show, Lytle Pressley Contemporary, Austin, TX (2012)
Juried Print Exhibitions
New American Paintings, Volume 162, Juror: Tyler Blackwell, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY (2022)
Studio Visit, Volume Thirty-Three, Juror: Michael Lash, Independent Curator and former Director of Public Arts, City of Chicago (2015)
Studio Visit, Volume Twenty-Four, Juror: Barbara O’Brien, Executive Director, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO (2013)
Community Involvement
Board Member of Texas Vignette: Programming Chair (2022 - present)
Advisory Council Member, Vignette (2017-2022)
Board Member of Texas Vignette, (2017)
Board Member, Texas Women’s Caucus for Art (2016-17)
Press
“The Miami Report: Highlights from Basel and Beyond”, by Michael Anthony Farley, December 2024.
“Dallas Artist Found Her ‘Authentic Self’ at College”, Columbia College Today, March 2022.