Jaime Schmidt
“The work I create questions how to be at home in a changing world knowing the systems in place are no longer serving us, yet not quite knowing what’s next. The intention of my current work is to create systems exploring the waste stream and generative opportunities for processing waste and emotions as a celebratory ritual. Informed by phenomenological approaches, I seek to facilitate multi-sensory experiences that explore human consciousness in connection with the natural world in juxtaposition with consumerist waste. Envisioning utopias amidst dystopian realities brings beauty to charred landscapes as temples and sacred objects are formed from paper waste and abandoned structures. In attempting to “deanthropentize” my process, I first engage in a conversation with a place, bodies of water, plants, and animals. I apply ancient technologies and philosophies to contemporary issues through sculptural papermaking with paper waste and opportunistic plants, weaving with plastic “garbage”, and woodblock printing with wildfire charcoal. My work is interdisciplinary utilizing my body and the bodies of participants as an object of performance. My art serves as an investigation into the liminal space between self and other, body and mind, God and environment."
Jaime Schmidt is a non-binary interdisciplinary artist currently living in SW USA. Their work consists of the transformation of literal and metaphorical waste into physical artwork and socially engaged projects integrating ritual in connection with land. Jai received their BFA in painting at Daemen College (NY,2015) and has studied land stewardship throughout Chile (2016-17), 3 month mentorship with Cata Calores at Ecoescuela Vivencial in the lower Atacama Desert, 9 month study at Dhamma Dena Meditation Center (Joshua Tree, CA 2019), Certification in Permaculture and Advanced social systems design with the Women's Permaculture Guild (specializing in Arid Climate adaptation with mentorship from Meiling Colorado, 2020), and works occasionally with Linda Sibio's Cracked Eggs Project (2020-current). Jai has been an artist in Residence at A-Z West in Joshua Tree, CA (2022), UTE AIR in Sunshine Valley, NM (2021-2022), and Lookout Arts Quarry (March/April 2023). Jai's current work with House project integrates, natural ink making, woodblock printing, poetry, collaborative meaning making, and community education and recycling through "Recycling Center", paper-making workshop.