Musing on the Work of Jami Joelle Nielsen

As an artist, there’s a difference between the work you create for yourself and the work you share with the world. But as the husband of an artist, Erik Solevad Nielsen says there are some pieces he’ll never be able to part with.

“There are five or six pieces that I probably won’t ever sell,” he said. Describing his late wife, Jami Joelle Nielsen, he added, “As an artist, I would say that she was a surrealist. As a person, she was extremely energetic and driven — immensely warm and generous.”

Jami died last year at age 42, but her legacy as a self-taught artist and influential member of Santa Barbara’s arts community lives on. From Aug. 6–16, the Community Arts Workshop will host Jami Joelle Nielsen: An Otherworldly, Rusty Retrospective, the first comprehensive exhibition of her work since her death, celebrating her life, artistic evolution, and lasting impact on the local arts community.

“The intersection of her interest in science and art really defined her as an artist,” Nielsen said. Her work ranged from sculptures made with rusty metal, bones, and discarded objects to dreamlike paper collages crafted from recycled science textbooks, creating surreal landscapes that reflected her lifelong fascination with transformation in the natural world.

“Her work was an appreciation of the natural processes of transformation, whether it be the death of a star or a cicada leaving its shell,” he said. “She always had ideas and really believed in fostering community. That’s why she became so active at the CAW.”

The Community Arts Workshop, better known as the CAW, is an industrial arts complex and community event space that provides rehearsal, workshop, gallery, and performance space for artists. Nielsen served on its Outreach Committee and organized the inaugural Recycled Show: A No-Waste Art Exhibit in 2024 after previously curating the No Waste Earth exhibit at Art From Scrap in 2014. 

Nielsen’s legacy continues at CAW through community-centered exhibitions inspired by her vision, including Refabrication and Upcycle Couture.

Diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a genetic collagen disorder, Nielsen’s worsening health forced her to abandon many of the large found-object sculptures she was known for. Instead, she began creating intricate paper collages from bed, producing what she called her “otherworldly landscapes.”

“Her health depleted really quickly after diagnosis; she could only make art in bed, basically,” Nielsen said. “She started making these paper collages, and that became kind of her signature style.”

Even while confined to bed, Nielsen continued to create. Some of the collages were mounted on pins with magnets attached so she could continue working despite her physical limitations. Several of those pieces will be on display, with most available for purchase.

“She was increasingly just in bed, in a room or two all day, and she made these other worlds and landscapes,” Nielsen said. “She felt like it transported her to other worlds. It was kind of a way of escaping from her physical circumstances.”

These other worlds and landscapes, as she called them, will be one of the two main bodies of work featured in the show.

Are art and science forever divided? Or are they one and the same? Jami’s work suggested the latter as she became increasingly interested in astronomy and astrophysics, incorporating celestial imagery into collages made from recycled science textbooks and vintage ephemera. 

“Even when Jami wasn’t well enough, she would work so hard to create,” Nielsen said. “She would often collapse while working on art pieces.”

Jami began exhibiting her work in 2007 and went on to participate in more than 70 exhibitions. Though her artistic practice evolved dramatically after her diagnosis, her husband said her curiosity, generosity, and commitment to community never changed. 

That legacy will continue through the retrospective, where most of the artwork will be available for purchase, with a significant portion of the proceeds benefiting CAW.

“It’s been difficult because I know there are some pieces I may not see after the show,” Nielsen said. “But it’s what she would have wanted. Going through her art, intentionally choosing what to display, and knowing she would have loved to have a solo show in Santa Barbara has been fulfilling in every way possible.” See sbcaw.org/upcoming