Jason Lips

Bio

Jason Lips was raised amid the industrial decay and blowing expanses of corn and soy in South Bend, Indiana, which he suspects still informs his artistic sensibility in ways he’ll likely spend the rest of his days trying to understand. But, he has now spent more of his life in Kansas City where he is an artist/educator, working primarily in the mediums of ceramics and comics. He holds a BFA from KCAI and an MFA from Tyler School of Art, both in Ceramics. His book, Denim Rider and Other Stories was published in 2021 by Nothing & Everything. A new collection of comics is forthcoming in early 2026.

Artist Statement

For the last decade or so, my artistic output has been split between ceramics and semi-autobiographical comics, the two practices running parallel, dipping into similar thematic reservoirs, but rarely converging. The two mediums seem to satisfy different creative needs. I came to the comics medium through a craving for a certain directness of narration, sensing that the ambiguity of my sculptural work had become something of a crutch. Making comics is slow, laborious, and frustrating, just like ceramics! Ironically, I’m usually led back, through some kind of mystical process, to a place of ambiguity, poetry, and more questions than clarity.

While my ceramic background has always been more sculptural in nature, in recent years I have found myself humbly and somewhat surprisingly pursuing the vessel. This started in an effort to stay two steps ahead of my high school pottery students. But now, making pots makes far more sense to me than sculptures or installations. Perhaps this is just the practicality that comes with middle age and a family. Maybe I’m also attracted to the sneakiness of highly accessible art forms like pottery and comics.

As I discover my midlife voice in pottery, I find myself attracted to simple, utilitarian forms that retain the warmth of the process and tactility of the material. If there are connections emerging between my comics and ceramics, it may be my efforts to explore memory in a manner that balances the straightforward and the surreal while delivering an emotional gut punch to the audience.

Exhibitions