Quintessence
By Jay Heikes
About
The artwork
Jay Heikes reimagines the stars of the American flag as textured bronze and glass forms that feel alive and constantly changing. Spread throughout the courtyard, the sculptures reflect the complexity and diversity of American identity. Their varying sizes suggest the shifting distance between where we are and what we hope to achieve. The work encourages visitors to pause, look closely, and consider democracy not as something fixed, but as an ongoing process shaped by many voices and experiences.
Location: Museum | Courtyard 1
The artist
Jay Heikes is an artist whose work moves across painting, sculpture, installation, and performance. His practice brings together different materials and forms, often shifting between abstraction and figuration. Heikes’s work is shaped by an interest in transformation—how materials change, interact, and take on new meaning over time.
“There is also a special place in my head and heart for the years of the Obama Presidency…it was as if we had matured into the country we had always dreamt; one of understanding that there were still problems to wrestle with but now suddenly seeing the limitless potential in the horizons we had the luck to awaken to.” - Jay Heikes
