Jessi Li  (b.1987) grew up  in Jersey City, NJ. She hold an MFA from Hunter College (2019) and a BA from Bard College at Simon’s Rock (2009). Li makes sculpture using a broad range of materials including fabric, glass, clay, and repurposed everyday objects. Her work relates to the body whether through direct figurative depictions or the sculptural reimagining of utilitarian items, such as bags or tools. Li is interested in the transmutation of material as it relates to the transformation of self, death being the ultimate transition. Her sculptures often contain transnational iconography through pattern and decoration, and tackle themes of fear, protection, comfort, displacement, and intimacy. Li has been an artist in residence at Chautauqua School of Art, Pottery Northwest, a fellowship recipient at Pratt Fine art Center, and a post-baccalaureate student in glass at VCU School of Art. Li Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, teaches ceramics at Greenwich House Pottery, and is the Exhibitions Manager at the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum. She has shown their work nationally in group and solo exhibitions in New York, NY, Jersey City, NJ, Seattle, WA, Milwaulkee, WI, Cape Cod, MA, and Toledo, OH.