About Jeff
Jeff McGee is an artist and educator in Houston, Texas, whose current practice centers on AI-assisted digital illustration and layout. Combining AI image generation with Adobe Creative Cloud, he creates original digital comics, character-driven illustration and unique interactive digital experiences delivered through conventional platforms like Microsoft PowerPoint.
His creative work delves into narrative, lived actions and character traits that comment on human connections with the natural world. That thread runs back to his roots as a metalsmith, building creatures and functional objects in copper, steel, brass and silver.
He earned his MFA in Metalsmithing from the University of Kansas and his BFA in Metalsmithing from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, after an Associate’s Degree in Computer Animation from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Jeff has been an Art Professor at San Jacinto College since 2011 and has served as Department Chair of Fine Arts at San Jacinto College South since 2018. His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea, where it received an Honorable Mention.
Artist Statement
I am fascinated by the places where people and the natural world meet: how we study, borrow from, reshape and imagine the creatures around us. My work lives in those crossovers. Whether forged in metal or built digitally, the characters and stories I create blend human traits with natural forms to ask what our connections to nature reveal about ourselves.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
- 2009 MFA, Metalsmithing and Jewelry Design (Honors), University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
- 2006 BFA, Studio Arts, Cum Laude, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Edinboro, PA
- 2001 Associate’s Degree, Computer Animation, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Teaching
- 2018–present Department Chair / Art Professor, Fine Arts and Physical Education, San Jacinto College South, Houston, TX
- 2011–2016 Art Professor, Department of Fine Arts, San Jacinto College South, Houston, TX
- 2010 Part-Time Faculty, Benedictine College, Atchison, KS
- 2007–2009 Instructor of Record, Design Department, University of Kansas
Selected Exhibitions
- 2019 Not So Lone Star
- 2018 UNT Metalsmithing & Jewelry: Lineages
- 2016 Refined IX: Humor
- 2015 Mapped: A Survey of Contemporary Jewelry and Metalwork
- 2014, 2012 The Teapot Redefined
- 2012 CU:29 Contemporary Works in Copper
- 2011 Cheongju International Craft Biennale, South Korea
- 2009 Creak: The Last Living Terror Bird (MFA thesis exhibition)
Honors & Awards
- 2018 Faculty Excellence Award, San Jacinto College
- 2018 Nominee, Minnie Piper Stevens Professor Award
- 2012 First Place, The Heart of Art Juried Exhibition
- 2011 Honorable Mention, Cheongju International Craft Biennale
Service & Speaking
- 2013–2015 President and Newsletter Editor, Houston Metal Arts Guild
- 2024 Guest Juror, Upcycle Art Challenge, Baytown Art League
- 2017 Artist’s Talk and Demonstration, Stephen F. Austin State University
- 2014 Workshop Instructor, Metal Forming Techniques, Houston Metal Arts Guild