Artist Biography

 
I was born in Pearisburg, Virginia on September 25, 1974. My family and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1977. I lived in North Carolina until I graduated from high school in 1993. After high school I moved to Charleston, South Carolina to attend the College of Charleston. In 1997, I received a Bachelor of Art degree with a Minor in Art History. During my time in Charleston, I also studied abroad in Cortona, Italy through a program with the University of Georgia where I studied marble carving.
 
In 1999, I was accepted to the University of Houston’s Master of Fine Arts program and received my M.F.A. degree in 2002. Since moving to Houston in 1999, I have immersed myself in the art community in and around the Houston area. Aside from personal exhibitions, I worked for more than two years at a private bronze production foundry, as well as in the preparation department at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. I was honored to serve for two years as the president of the Buffalo Bayou Art Park and am an active member of the Lawndale Art Center of Houston and the Arthouse at the Jones Center in Austin.  Part of my volunteer work included serving on the programming boards at the Lawndale Art Center and The Art Alliance Center of Clear Lake, as well as jurying many competitive art exhibitions throughout Texas. In 2001 I was hired as an adjunct professor here at University of Houston-Clear Lake and worked as the Sculpture Consultant for the High School for Performance and Visual Art. Since 2004 I have received two artist grants from the Cultural Art Center of Houston and Harris County and from the Dallas Museum of Art, and was accepted as an artist in resident at the Edward F. Albee Foundation’ Artist Residency.
 
I am currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture and the Program Director for the Art and Design program for the University of Houston-Clear Lake. I currently live in League City, Texas. I am happily married and a proud father of a beautiful daughter.
 
                                                                                                                                                                                                 -Jason Makepeace