About

Aries Jo (they/he), is a nonbinary artist, performer, educator, and community organizer in O’gah Po’geh (colonially known as Santa Fe, NM). Aries is the Director of Marketing and Operations at New Mexico School for the Arts, and is a Board Member at WiseFool New Mexico.

Aries received their MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2014. He has had noteworthy exhibitions at Mixed Greens Gallery (NYC), Marginal Utility (Philadelphia), & COOP Gallery (Nashville). Their artwork includes sculpture, installation, photography, performance, and printmaking. Centering on relationships between memory, time, nature, joy, grief, and the body, Aries’ work involves a sensitivity to materials and includes experimental practices from growing crystals to puppet making, to clowning, to sculpting with live plants, to body casting.

Aries is also a co-founder of Queer Community Care, a mutual aid organization that provides free resource-share events to the queer community and beyond. They are a founding member of the Quiver and Tempt Society, Santa Fe’s former all-queer burlesque troupe. Aries has directed, produced, and performed in many QTS productions under the stage name “Daddy Stardust” including “ICONS: Y2K,” “Circus of the Damned,” and “Abort the Court.” 

Aries has lived many lives, with stints working as both a professional Death Care Educator and a Lived-Experience Peer Coach, specializing in supporting grief, queer and polyamorous relationships, and gender exploration. They were a provider with Intrepid Therapy Collective for 2 years, and now offer sessions as a freelance coach.

Aries is passionate about social justice, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, dungeons and dragons, and their two cats, Paunchito and Lil Frankie. 

email: aaariesjo (at) gmail.com
insta: @_aries_jo

Click these links for more info on Quiver and Tempt Society, Queer Community Care, Peer Coaching

Curriculum Vitae:

Education

MFA, Studio Art, 2014
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA), Philadelphia, PA          

BFA, Sculpture and Minor degree, Art History, 2011
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, Alabama
          Graduated Summa Cum Laude, with University Honors

International Exhibition Record
2009   “Ephemera”                                     Festa Design Gallery: (Harajuku) Tokyo, Japan.

National Exhibition Record
2019 abyss/a bliss Zephyr Community Art Space: Santa Fe, NM (solo exhibition)

2018       Sprung                                          Gallery 121, Belmont University: Nashville, TN
Material Passage                            COOP Gallery: Nashville, TN
Complementary Voices                  Leu Art Gallery, Belmont University: Nashville, TN

2017        Biannual Adjunct Exhibition The New Gallery @ Austin Peay State University: Clarksville, TN
Nasty Women Nashville                    The Basement East: Nashville, TN
 
2016        Modular Art Pods                               Queen Ave: Nashville, TN

2015       Get It While It's Cheap                     Marginal Utility: Philadelphia, PA
 Strange Paradise                               First Street Gallery: Chelsea, NYC

2014       On Being Solid                                   Mixed Greens Gallery: Chelsea, NYC
The Annual Student Exhibition          Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: Philadelphia, PA
(Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition)
Fractured Yet Rising                            ARC Gallery: Chicago, IL 
               Annual Community Exhibition           3rd Street Gallery: Philadelphia, PA

2013       20/92                                                  IceBox Projects at Crane Arts: Philadelphia, PA
Garbage World 7                                Little Berlin: Philadelphia, PA
Masters of Art                                     Gallery 128, PAFA: Philadelphia, PA  
                    (Curated by Dan Miller, Chair of Graduate Programs: PAFA)
Art of the North East                           Silvermine Art Gallery: New Canaan, CT
                   (Juror: David Ross Chair of Graduate Studies, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY.)
The Self Portrait                               Gallery 659: Whiting, Indiana
Annual Local Call Show                      Highwire Gallery: Philadelphia, PA


2012   The Red Clay Survey                             Huntsville Museum of Art: Huntsville, AL
        Hot Lullaby Presents: Art House        Art House: Nashville, TN
Art On The Green                                Operation New Birmingham: Birmingham, AL

 2011     The Bachelor of Fine Arts Exhibition                         UAB ArtLab: Birmingham, AL
The Annual Sculpture Society Exhibition                   David’s Gallery: Birmingham, AL

Fine Art Teaching Experience

Adjunct Faculty: Tennessee State University                                                        July 2018- September 2018
Ceramics I, Ceramics II

Adjunct Faculty: Belmont University                                                                       August 2016- August 2018
Sculpture I, Surface &Form (Advanced 3D Media), 3D Design

Adjunct Faculty, Austin Peay State University                                                       August 2016-August 2018
2D Design, 3D Design, Sculpture, Art Appreciation

Adjunct Faculty, Nashville State Community College                                           January 2016- January 2018
Art Appreciation

Continuing Education Instructor, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts      June-August 2015
Mold Making/Sculpture

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Art              August 2013- May 2014
Plaster & Mold Making

Graduate Instructor, PAFA High School After School Program                          August -December 2013
Figure Drawing

Drawing Instructor, ARTfix! Community Education, Space One Eleven           January-July 2012
Figure Drawing

Professional Fine Arts and Arts Administration Experience

Casa Na Ilha Artist Residency, Ilhabela Brazil                                                         June 2018

Coop Gallery, Member and Social Media Manager (Nashville, TN)                          April 2017-Present

·       Curated “Unfolding Vantage,” Coop’s April 2018 exhibition 

Assistant Director of Admissions, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts               July 2014-Sept. 2015

Gallery Associate/Museum Shop Associate, The Fabric Workshop and Museum  Jan- July 2014

Administrative Associate/Gallery Associate, Space One Eleven                                Sept. 2011- July 2012

Press Highlights

“EXCAVATING THE MATERIALS OF TIME: ALEXANDRA JO SUTTON RECONSTRUCTS MEMORY AND EARTH,” Nashville Arts Magazine, January 2018 Issue and online:
https://nashvillearts.com/2018/01/excavating-materials-time-alexandra-jo-sutton-reconstructs-memory-earth/

“On Being Solid” on Artsy and the Mixed Greens website (The exhibition was featured on the front page of Artsy July 2014): https://www.artsy.net/show/mixed-greens-pafa-mfa-exhibition-on-being-solid
http://mixedgreens.com/exhibitions/upcoming/Pennsylvania-Academy-of-the-Fine-Arts-MFA-Exhibition-182.html

“On Being Solid” was also one of Sharon Butler's recommended summer group show on her blog “Two Coats of Paint”: http://www.twocoatsofpaint.com/2014/07/links-and-images-summer-group-shows.html