OPENING RECEPTION
FRIDAY, MARCH 6, 2026
5-8 PM

ON VIEW
MARCH 6 - APRIL 4, 2026

FOR INQUIRES
Please contact hello@chefasprojects.com

Jessie Rose Vala (b. 1977) works in sculptural ceramics, mixed media, and installation, creating immersive environments that function as speculative mythologies. Through object-making and time-based projects, Vala constructs counter-narratives that explore ecological transformation, interspecies entanglement, and the porous boundaries between the archaic and the futuristic. Her practice engages myth-making not as nostalgia, but as a tool for imagining alternate cosmologies and resilient futures.

Working with materials such as stoneware, glass, brass, and neon, Vala builds chimeric worlds populated by hybrid animal, vegetal, and human forms. These figures often appear as relics or emissaries—artifacts from parallel ecologies where survival depends on adaptation and symbiosis. By combining traditional craft processes with industrial and luminous materials, she creates sculptural translations that feel both ancient and emergent, foregrounding tension between permanence and ephemerality.

Vala has exhibited at Truck Gallery (Calgary, Canada), Evergold Gallery (San Francisco, CA), Present Company (Brooklyn, NY), and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Eugene, OR). She has received grants and support from the Oregon Arts Commission, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), and The Ford Family Foundation.

In addition to her studio practice, Vala curates and collaborates with a diverse community of artists. She is Career Faculty at the University of Oregon and a member of Well Well Projects in Portland, Oregon.

ARTWORK

INSTALLATION IMAGES

© CHEFAS PROJECTS
Photo credit: Mario Gallucci