Jill Bell

Class of 1996, Fine Arts major

Bell received her BFA from Moore College of Art & Design and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. Upon finishing graduate school, she lived in Maine for 9 months as a Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts winter resident. It was there, frustrated with building larger sculptural pieces with the local clay and having them crack, she decided to change things up. She was inspired by a chowder bowl project they did with the local community and began making bowls and cups of her own. Coupled with her interest in manipulating the human form to create alienlike figures as wall-hanging sculptures, Bell explores paranormal themes and maintains a studio practice that allows her to push the boundaries of form vs function.