Jess Perlitz is a sculptor who makes playful structures for people to interact with — sometimes she wears the sculpture and you interact with her. She has created wooden lookout platforms to climb up on and reinforced concrete huts to sit in. Recently, she created a disco ball bodysuit that she calls “Disco Lump” that performs, spinning very slowly. The ideas are plentiful in her work, much of which is about the voice of the solitary individual in a community. The works, which we’ve seen in Philadelphia’s alternative spaces, are quirky and intriguing. Jess is Canadian, and she is soon taking over the reins of the Sculpture Program at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR. We talked with her in her studio in the 915 Spring Garden building on July 10, 2013, shortly before she left town. In this excerpt from our interview, Jess talks about going to “baby clown training,” which she says is for “emerging” clowns, and how she thinks of her work in the clowning tradition. Catch the full interview next week. And see her website for pictures of her work.
