Jesse Armstrong grew up in Norman, Oklahoma surrounded by creativity and ingenuity. His mother, Carol Armstrong, is a professional painter and educator, his dad Jim Armstrong held advanced degrees in Biology and Environmental Chemistry and was an amateur woodworker, and brother Jake Armstrong is a successful artist and animator. Armstrong readily recognizes he was raised with a passion not just for the arts, but with a deep curiosity for the how things work.
Armstrong received his BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Oklahoma in 2005. He spent several years as an intern and resident artist at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO, and spent a year as the interim Director of Ceramics at the Firehouse Arts Center in Norman, OK, before heading to Arizona State University in 2010 to complete an MFA in Ceramics. The contacts made in Arizona offered Armstrong an opportunity to spend several more years as a Resident Artist at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, AZ. In addition to being a working artist Armstrong is also an educator and is currently the Head of the Ceramics Department at the Mesa Arts Center.
