Artist Biography

My name is Jaclyn Herr. I am a junior high special education teacher in central Illinois. I recently started welding as a hobby in 2020; I really enjoy finding various pieces of junk metal and seeing what I can make. I also enjoy welding with my husband, Mike Herr. Together, we have a collaboration piece called Opportunity’s Chains in Florida.

Artist Statement

I teach 8th grade special education in Morton, Illinois. I have a husband (Mike), a daughter (Lila) and a dog (Roscoe). In my free time, I travel around the United States to play Ultimate Frisbee.  With the help of my husband, Mike, I picked up the hobby of welding when I was sidelined with a torn ACL knee injury and when the world shut down during Covid 2020. After helping my husband design one of his large sculptures, I wanted to become the main designer of my own large sculpture. I wanted to create something fun and silly that would make people smile. Octavious Ocho is my first large sculpture, and it took about 3 years to create working on it off and on between the winter of 2020 and the spring of 2023. I also wanted my sculpture to be interactive. I have placed a tube on the side of the (treasure) chest/box that can be used for geocaching. Geocaching is where people can search using GPS on their phone and through the geocaching app to find geocaching locations in public locations where trinkets can be placed in hide and seek containers. Essentially, it is a treasure hunting game. 

Octavious Ocho Statement

I was inspired to make something whimsical that would put a smile to people's faces. I wanted to create an octopus that looked expressive and could be enjoyed by both children and adults.

I was inspired to create Octavious Ocho after watching my husband work on sculptures of his own. I also went to local art shows and saw an artist draw an octopus using coffee grounds. The octopus looked so whimsical and made me happy. I decided that I wanted to create something that made me and others happy as well. After creating a few miniature octopuses, I aspired to be like my husband, Mike, and create a large sculpture. 

Octavious (Ocho) is the name of my piece, and it is depicting an octopus sitting upon a treasure chest. The head/body is made out of old helium tanks. The eyes and the treasure chest are made from various pieces of scrap metal. The legs are made from steel tubes decorated with washers and an old chain. 

I like to have my art be interactive. The eyes can move when manipulated. Also, on the side of the treasure chest is a place to hide trinkets for geocaching. Geocaching is an outdoor activity/hobby in which people use GPS coordinates from cell phones to find tiny objects as well as a record catalog in a container.