A California native, Ivy Jacobsen settled into the San Francisco Bay Area after graduating from San Francisco State University with a BA in painting and printmaking in 2000. She continued her studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and studied painting and art history in Paris, France. She began her career as a full time artist in 2005 and quickly emerged as a prolific fine artist with a unique process of incorporating magical realism into her layered mixed media landscapes.
Jacobsen has been in exhibitions in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Asheville, NC. Her work has been featured in television shows, commercials, and in public collections throughout the US, including Zuckerberg General Hospital, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and Swedish Hospital, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the Four Seasons Hotel, Philadelphia, and the Emory Hotel and Conference Center in Atlanta, GA. In addition to regular exhibitions, Jacobsen creates commissioned work for private and corporate clients.
“It is my hope that the viewer is invited “into” the imaginary landscape to explore and keep discovering new things within the environment. In my paintings I create botanical forms and apply collage in between layers of 2-part epoxy resin and thin glazes of oil and acrylic paint. With each semi transparent layer, the background recedes, creating the illusion of space, while revealing the history within the painting…
It’s a balance of source materials coming directly from my observations and memories of nature, intuitive mark making, and bits of paper collage. I’m interested in capturing the essence of plants found in our natural world. In my paintings the stylized plants often grow unexpectedly, sometimes joining together and becoming hybrids. It reminds me of how interconnected all life is on earth.”
