About Jay Handy

Jay Handy is an artist and printmaker working between Madison, Wisconsin and Utrecht, Netherlands.

His work begins with photographs, often found, donated, archival, or drawn from family collections. Using drypoint, chine collé, hand-dyed Japanese washi paper, photography, collage, and increasingly glass, he transforms those images into layered works about memory, place, belonging, and the emotional weight carried by ordinary moments.

Handy earned an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley University College of Art and Design. He also completed the three-year Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School.

His path to a full-time art practice was not linear. Art had been present throughout his life, but for many years it existed alongside another professional career. Eventually, the pull toward making became impossible to ignore. What began as a return to printmaking developed into an international studio practice, with exhibitions and projects in the United States and Europe.

Community and shared memory are central to the work. Handy has created large-scale projects in Michigan and Wisconsin built from hundreds of photographs submitted by local residents, translating family snapshots and local history into contemporary works on paper.

More recently, his imagery has expanded into kiln-fused and illuminated glass, allowing intimate print-based work to move into architectural, healthcare, corporate, hospitality, and public settings.

His work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private, corporate, and institutional collections, including the University of Wisconsin Health permanent collection.

Handy maintains studio practices and creative communities in both Madison and Utrecht.