Jacob Foran Art

Jacob Foran is a Seattle based ceramic artist. Born in Urbana, Illinois, Foran received a BFA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the interdisciplinary painting and sculpture program. He then obtained a second BFA in ceramics from the University of Illinois in 2008, where he was awarded Allie D. Hughston-Enochs Scholarship for being an outstanding graduate in the School of Art and Design. Prior to transferring to the University of Illinois School of Art, Foran received a full tuition merit scholarship from Parkland College, where he obtained an AFA with an emphasis in drawing and painting. During these years, he developed working relationships with Cinema Gallery and Ann Nathan Gallery in Chicago. Foran moved to Seattle in 2008 to study with artists Akio Takamori, Doug Jeck and Jamie Walker in the University of Washington’s Ceramics Department. Foran received the Kottler & Noritake Scholarship from the University of Washington and the national juried Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship in 2009. He was awarded the first prize in the national Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Student Exhibit at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Foran began his teaching career while a graduate student at the University of Washington under guidance from Akio Takamori. Upon receiving his MFA, he was also given the Teaching With Excellence Award from the School of Art + Art History + Design at the University of Washington. Foran’s 2010 thesis exhibition, titled ‘Headspace,’ made reviews in major publications including Surfaces Magazine in Beijing, China, Designboom in Milan, Italy and Beautiful Decay in Los Angeles, California. His work has also been featured in publications such as ArtSlant New York, Clay Times, Ceramics Monthly and the Seattle Times. Museum exhibitions include ”Continuum of Excellence: Haystack Clay Selects,” at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, “Creating The New Northwest: Selections from the Collection of the Herb and Lucy Pruzan” at the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, the NCECA National Biennial at the Museum of Art and Craft in Louisville, Kentucky. Major gallery exhibitions include “Games of Antiquities” at Gasser & Grunnert in New York City, SOFA New York and SOFA Chicago with Ann Nathan Gallery and most recently “Bodies and Beings” at Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art in Seattle, Washington. Esteemed acquisitions include Koen Theys Collection in Brussels, Belgium, the Pruzan Collection in Seattle, the Porter & Price Collection in Columbia, South Carolina and the Rosenbaum Collection in Bethesda, Maryland. Public collections include the Sonny and Gloria Kamm Foundation’s museum collection, Parkland College’s permanent collection in Champaign, Illinois as well as the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts resident acquisitions collection in Helena, Montana. In 2014, Foran was a resident artist at the European Ceramic Work Center in The Netherlands. He has also been a guest resident in the Ceramics Department at California State Long Beach University, and a two-time summer resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana. Jacob is currently a faculty member in the Visual Arts Department at Lakeside Upper School in Seattle, Washington. He also has taught courses at the University of Washington, Seward Park Clay Studio (Seattle), and workshop offerings at Boulder Mountain Clayworks in Ketchum, Idaho. He is represented by Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art in Seattle and Gallery Victor Armendariz, Chicago.