Jackie Ferrara

Who is Jackie Ferrara?

Jackie Ferrara is an American sculptor and draughtswoman best known for her pyramidal stacked structures. Her work is in the collection of the MOMA, the LACMA, the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, and the Phillips Collection, among others.

Coming from a background with no formal art education, Ferrara moved to New York in 1952 and became involved in its burgeoning art scene, as well as theatre and dance through a stint working for the Henry Street Playhouse. In the sixties she was involved with performances and happenings at the Judson Church, performing in two of Claes Oldenburg's happenings, which she was particularly influenced by. During this time she began sculpting, developing a unique style by the seventies. Characteristics of her work include wooden pyramid or ziggurat structures with accompanying horizontally stacked steps, "meticulous craftmanship, [...] reference to generic types of non-Western building, such as those of Mesoamerica and Egypt, and to geometric form."

One of her earliest mature works was 1974's Hollow Core Pyramid. Other well known works of the period include Curved Pyramid and Stacked Pyramid.