​

  Jacqueline Overby (b. 1991, San Antonio, TX) earned her BFA from Texas State University in 2016. A multi-disciplinary artist, Overby graduated with a BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in Painting and moved towards more performative and sculptural efforts, most recently delving into the social practice and business realms. Jacqueline currently lives in Austin and works in San Marcos, TX.

Overby bagan expanding her practice in 2018 with her abstracted soft sculpture and needle felted forms. In this work, Overby takes inspiration from childhood cartoon aesthetic, pop cultural standards and her experiences with body dysmorphia. She is interested in the feminine, the masculine, and the non-binary and their relation to exaggerated geometric form, societal expectations and sexual innuendo. Some of the allegories in the work touch on the conversations between the comforts of childhood toys and the traumas of adulthood as it relates to nostalgia and a yearning for a lost innocence.

​

  A large portion of her visual art practice serves as a way to process her emotions in relation to mental health, self-image, sexual desires and trauma. Being a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, her needle felting process of repeatedly stabbing fibers back into themselves serves as a way to meditate and heal while confronting various intrusive thoughts with a sense of humor. Exhibiting bright venomous hues, not unlike what poisonous animals use to ward off predators, she is interested in the role that color and shape play in the psychological response to a piece.

​

In 2020, Overby Co-founded MotherShip Studios and has since focused on developing the community and constructing studios in the space located in San Marcos, Texas. The MotherShip mission goal is to strengthen the central Texas art scene by offering affordable studios and building a community network in which artists can thrive together.

​

  With the founding of MotherShip Studios, Overby has begun to look at her efforts through the lens of social practice. Focused on community building and providing a space where there previously was none, she has put significant effort into learning how to manage and produce a creative space that serves its artists first. Learning drafting, carpentry and general construction, Jacqueline Overby and Courtney Peterson completed construction on their first large scale studio located at MotherShip in Fall 2021.  

Afterwards, began another initiative called Blast Suppers, hosted at a different arts location every month. An evolving effort, the monthly potluck aims to provide a community gathering point where the Austin creative community can come together and rebuild the networks of support that we have lost throughout the pandemic.

  In 2022 Jacqueline Overby and Courtney Peterson created the first San Marcos Studio Tour, hosted through MotherShip Studios location and throughout the city limits. They built out their 450 sq ft of gallery space and welcomed over 3000 people to citywide tour in April of 2023. After a wonderful first year, Overby is currently working on the 2nd Annual San Marcos Studio Tour to be held April 5th-7th, 2024.

​

Early 2023, Overby became a member of the 20 person Icosa collective located in the Canopy Arts complex. Additionally, she was asked to join the advisory board council for Co-Lab Projects.

​

In summer of 2023, Jacqueline paired up with Calvin Chen of Bercy Chen Studios to become a co-founder of Good Dad Studios. Located inside of an old office building in south central Austin, Overby assisted in the design of studio construction and cultivation of the community of over 120 artists. The largest studio space in Central Texas, Overby worked with many many different artists to create a brand and personality while maintaining affordability. Good Dad Studios embraces the vintage aesthetic of the existing interior space; a conceptual decision to honor the history of Austin and an attempt to keep
it weird.

In Winter of 2024, Overby completed her scope of work on the Good Dad project and departed, currently working on expanding MotherShip Studios' presence into other town and preparing for the 2nd Annual San Marcos Studio Tour.