About

who am i?

I am an interdisciplinary artist working across photography, music, and event curation. My practice examines identity, belonging, and placelessness through the construction of visual and sonic worlds.

Raised in the Pacific Northwest with roots in Louisiana, my work is shaped by a sense of geographic and cultural dislocation. This distance inspires the consideration of inherited culture, memory, and identity without geographic or experiential grounding. I draw from personal and ancestral histories to explore how identity is formed, performed, and negotiated within shifting social and spatial contexts. Questions of class, race, and inheritance remain central to this inquiry.

Trained as a classical clarinetist, I received a BMA in Performance from the University of Michigan. My practice spans editorial, institutional, and independent contexts, including roles as Digital Fashion Editor and later Creative Director at SHEI Magazine, Event Curator at the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA), and co-founder of SCARBO, an arts collective that created and promoted projects by underrepresented and emerging artists across the United States.

To contact me with questions or opportunities, or just to say hi, please shoot an email to ward.jacob.k@gmail.com!

CV:

PUBLICATIONS:

PRINT:

FLAUNT MAGAZINE: Issue 194, Close Encounters
- STYlist assistant to oliver vaughn
VOGUE CHINA: photovogue, june 2024
- stylist Assistant to shaojun Chen
SHEI: Death of Fashion
- Creative Director
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/print_winter_2022_final_website
SHEI: Odyssey
- Creative Director
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/fallprint_forweb
SHEI: Psyche – “Collective Conscious”
- Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/w20_web
SHEI: Future of Fashion – “i, enigma”
- Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/fall2019_print_web

DIGITAL:

NUMéRO NETHERLANDS: “IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHANIE ARCILA”
- stylist ASSISTANT TO JACQUIE TREVIZO
- https://www.numeromag.nl/in-conversation-with-stephanie-arcila/
NUMÉRO NETHERLANDS: “IN CONVERSATION WITH SERINDA SWAN”
- stylist ASSISTANT TO JACQUIE TREVIZO
- https://www.numeromag.nl/in-conversation-with-serinda-swan/
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 7
- Digital Fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/sheidigital-vol7.7-final-4.23
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 6
- Digital Fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/vol7issu6
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 5
- Digital Fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/vol7issu5_pages_1
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 4
- Digital Fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/sheidigital-vol7.4-final
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 3
- Digital Fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/v7i3-final-12-6
SHEI: Vol. 7 Iss. 2
- Digital fashion Editor
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/v7i2_20draft2
SHEI: Vol. 6 Iss. 6 – “Come clean”
- Photo Director & Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/digital6.6
SHEI: Vol. 6 Iss. 5 – “The viennesian”
- Photo director & Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/digital6.5
SHEI: Vol. 6 Iss. 4 – “Rhinestones and rebirth”
- Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/digital6.4
SHEI: Vol. 6 Iss. 3 – “Réflechir”
- Photo Director & Stylist
- https://issuu.com/shei_magazine/docs/digital6.3final
SCARBO.DIGITAL: Birth – A Genesis vol.
- Creative Director

CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS:

Letters to Self, Guided Mindfulness Journal
- Illustrator and Social Media Coordinator – June 2025 to Present
- www.letters-to-self.com
Hoodwinked Podcast
- Freelance Content manager – January 2024 to November 2024
- linktr.ee/hoodwinkedpod
Donna Tucker, Jazz Singer/Songwriter
- Contract Web content specialist & domain administrator – February 2024
- www.donnatucker.com
Karissa Bone, singer/songwriter
- Freelance creative consultant – june 2021
- Album artwork for “Maybe in the summer” (2021)
Alexis Lombre, Jazz pianist & Singer/Songwriter
- Freelance Image consultant – January 2020
Duke’s PLace food truck
- Freelance graphic designer – february 2019 – August 2022

EVENT PLANNING & CURATION:

EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS & PROGRAMS:

Free to Speak: A Convening on Art, Slavery, and Reconciliation
- December 8-9, 2023 – University of Michigan Museum of Art
Artist residency – Yoshiko Takahashi
- April 7-15, 2023 – University of michigan museum of art
“Talking Trash: An interactive discussion inspired by the plastic bag store”
- January 30, 2023 – university of michigan museum of art & University musical society.
Lo Chia Lun Calligraphy Collection Symposium
- December 2-3, 2022 – University of Michigan Museum of Art
“Hey, We need to talk” dinner & Political town hall
- November 3, 2022 – University of Michigan museum of art

RECURRING & SPECIAL EVENTS:

FEEL GOOD FRIDAYS
- VARIOUS DATES: NOvember 10, 2023; September 22, 2023; APRIL 14, 2023; November 11, 2022; JUne 10, 2022; FEBRUARY 11, 2022 – University of Michigan Museum of Art
QUEER NIGHT AT UMMA
- VARIOUS DATES: February 10, 2023; February 18, 2022 – University of michigan Museum of ARt
Study Days at UMMA
- VARIOUS DATES: April 20-24, 2022; December 9-12, 2021; December 12-15, 2019 – University of Michigan Museum of ARt

EVENT SERIES:

Patiology Concert Series
- September 2021 – May 2022 – SCARBO – Ann arbor, MI
POP-UP Concert Series
- September 2019 – MaRCH 2020 – University of Michigan museum of art

VIRTUAL EVENTS:

K-12 Teacher Workshop for Hear Me Now: Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina
- Various dates: January 10, 2024; January 11, 2023
The Sex Ed Class You’ve Never Had Series
- July 2021
Virtual Study Days
- April 23-26, 2020
Politics and Your Mental Health
- April 6-7, 2020

MUSIC:

COMPOSITION, SONGWRITING, & ARRANGING:

“Steam Whistle” (2024)
- Conor Lynch. Clarinet – https://open.spotify.com/track/3PH2HMhrbK8AoS6fw2Fn8v?si=2f41f4ed7c4b4db5
“Let’s Face it” (2023)
- Crash Landing. Writer and performer – https://open.spotify.com/track/1hx820NPD93LvRlfOJtYXE?si=d297fabd9db74478
“Rat Beach” (2023)
- Crash Landing. Writer and performer – https://open.spotify.com/track/6kACcPzn4PgF09RogN8Kcp?si=795c9b68e5f64428
“Pavane pour un Agneau” (2021-22)
- COMPOSER. commissioned by a joint project between University of Michigan S.M.T.D. and University of Michigan Museum of Art – HTTPS://www.jakewrd.com/music
“Homage to the ‘Hommage á r. strauss’ by kovács” (2020)
- COMPOSER. – HTTPS://www.jakewrd.com/music

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Co-LAB: UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
- Principal Clarinet (March 18, 2020)
- https://www.instagram.com/p/B94bwNVnQGOQG_h5p3xhzj6SZ-7xSR745yTnRw0/
SABBATICAL BOB @ THE BLIND PIG, ANN ARBOR
- GUEST SINGER (January 26, 2020)
Honors Performance Series: Sydney Opera House
- Principal Clarinet (July, 2018)
Honors Performance Series: Carnegie Hall
- Principal Clarinet (February, 2018)
AUDITORIUM CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES: UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO
- SECOND CLARINET (September 19, 2017)
- https://www.uidaho.edu/class/music/news?trumbaEmbed=view%3Devent%26eventid%3D123805310
SPRING KBPX KIDS’ CONCERT: BEST OF MUSICFEST NORTHWEST
- Solo clarinet (June 12, 2017)
- https://www.spokanepublicradio.org/events/2020-05-15/spring-kpbx-kids-concert-best-of-musicfest-northwest-thank-you
FRIDAY AT FOUR RECITAL SERIES: WHITMAN COLLEGE
- Guest clarinetist (March 31, 2017)
- https://calendar.whitman.edu/event/friday_at_four_recital_series_present_shannon_scott_clarinet

GRANTS & AWARDS:

Creatives of Culture Award (2020)
- “SCARBO”, Culture Source Detroit
Wellness Initiative Microgrant (2020)
- “Politics and your mental health” – Jacob Ward and Samuel Uribe-Botero, University of Michigan
WASHINGTON STATE SOLO & ENSEMBLE CONTEST (2017)
- Gold medal. Solo Clarinet.
MUSICFEST NORTHWEST (2017)
- SILVER MEDAL. SOLO REED DIVISION (CLARINET).

EDUCATION:

BACHELOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in PERFORMANCE
- The University of michigan, Ann Arbor
- Minor in Arts Administration
- Graduated with honors