Biography

Jacob Foran (b. 1983, Urbana, Illinois) is a Seattle-based sculptor whose work spans figurative sculpture, vessel forms, and abstraction. Working primarily in clay, his practice explores the expressive and symbolic potential of the human head and the vessel through an intuitive approach to making.

Foran earned two Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Interdisciplinary Painting & Sculpture and Ceramics from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, where he was recognized as the Outstanding Graduate in the School of Art & Design. He later received his MFA in Ceramics from the University of Washington, studying with Akio Takamori, Doug Jeck, and Jamie Walker. While at the University of Washington, he received the nationally juried Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, the Kottler & Noritake Scholarship, First Prize in the Marge Brown Kalodner Graduate Student Exhibition at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and the University's Teaching with Excellence Award upon graduating in 2010.

His 2010 MFA thesis exhibition, Headspace, brought international recognition through features in Designboom, Beautiful Decay, and Surfaces Magazine (Beijing). His work has since been featured in Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, ArtSlant New York, and The Seattle Times.

Foran has exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions including the Fuller Craft Museum, Tacoma Art Museum, the Museum of Art and Craft, Gasser & Grunert (New York), SOFA New York, SOFA Chicago, and Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art (Seattle). His work is represented in numerous public and private collections, including the Sonny and Gloria Kamm Foundation, the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts, Parkland College, the Herb and Lucy Pruzan Collection, the Koen Theys Collection (Brussels), the Porter & Price Collection, and the Rosenbaum Collection.

In 2014, Foran was an artist-in-residence at the European Ceramic Work Centre (EKWC) in the Netherlands. He has also completed residencies at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts and California State University, Long Beach.

Alongside his studio practice, Foran teaches ceramics and sculpture at Lakeside School in Seattle. His teaching reflects the same commitment to curiosity, craftsmanship, and lifelong learning that informs his work in the studio.