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Resounds: Jesse Albrecht

Jesse Albrecht at the YPR studios
Anna Paige
Jesse Albrecht at the YPR studios

Jesse Albrecht grew up in a small Wisconsin town, and at age 19, he joined the National Guard, following in the footsteps of his relatives who served in the military at Tarawa, Pearl Harbor, New Guinea and Vietnam.

During this time, Albrecht also studied ceramics at the University of Wisconsin. He then pursued an MFA in ceramics at the University of Iowa, where he transferred National Guard units and was re-classed as a combat medic. Halfway through the MFA program, Jesse was deployed to Iraq following the September 11 attacks on the U.S.

Albrecht currently lives in Bozeman, where his work spans ceramics, sculpture, drawing, and more, and he is part of the collaborative art group Paintallica and was involved with the Combat Paper Project. Jesse’s works can be seen at the Yellowstone Art Museum through July 3, 2022, as part of the group show “The Un-homecoming of Uncle Dirty and Jimmy Cardell” with Sean Chandler.

"Uncle Dirty” was a nickname earned by Albrecht while serving in Iraq for doing the dirty work (good and not-so-good), and Jimmy Cardell was the alias of Chandler’s father who used the name in vulnerable situations or when other individuals couldn’t be trusted. The YAM describes Albrecht’s ceramic vessels and Chandler’s paintings as sharing "an autobiographical, visual language driven by the effects of war, generational trauma, self-preservation, and healing.”

As a veteran of the Iraq war, Albrecht paints and decals on roughly formed ceramic vessels expressing the experiences of war and post-war life. Chandler, an artist and president of Aaniiih Nakoda College, paints expressionistic figures mixed with quiet narrative scenes and hybrid creatures illustrating his life’s experiences. Both men have found unique and artistic paths to powerful and personal narratives.

Anna Paige is a Montana-based journalist, poet and educator. She is originally from Wyoming and has lived in Billings for more than a decade, where she co-founded Young Poets, winner of the 2021 Library of Congress Award for Literacy.
Corby Skinner is an independent marketing professional with an enormous capacity for assessing issues and creating positive, effective messages.