Who is Stephen Malkmus wife Jessica Jackson Hutchins?

Stephen Malkmus wife Jessica Jackson Hutchins is a prominent American artist. Hutchins is known for working with ceramics, assemblage, and more.

The full extent of Jessica’s artistic prowess also includes multi-media installations and paintings, all of which use found objects like ceramics, worn clothes, old furniture, and most popularly, newspaper clippings to create artwork. Out of all of them, the artist is perhaps best known for her assemblages which mix furniture and ceramics.

Jessica started using everyday objects after working with papier-mache throughout her college years, as she found herself slowly gravitating towards everyday objects by using things in her immediate surroundings. In college, the artist was famous for using used beer bottles and packaging to create her art.

Then, she started using coffee cups, and after becoming a mother, Jessica started using her children’s worn-out clothing. The latter has become something of a thematic overbearing on her art as both motherhood and her children not only influence her but play a vital role in what she creates.

Domesticity and the home sphere, with household items substituting humans to replicate human interaction, is the crux of her art, and all the furniture pieces she uses are all ones that were owned and used by her. Though assemblages remain her main form of artistic expression, Jessica continues to paint.

In 2011, the artist moved to Berlin and returned to painting as she had brought no materials with her. Still, she used the items around her, household objects like folding chairs and china plates, to create her artwork.

Jessica’s artwork is highly celebrated and has been included in various celebrated museums like the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Seatle Art Museum in Washington to name a few. The artist has done over 90 exhibitions in various prestigious establishments from 2004 to 2016. 

Stephen and Jessica got married on October 7, 2006. Stephen met Jessica when he moved to Portland, Oregon. 

All indications, meaning countless interviews with both Stephen and Jessica, point to their relationship and marriage being a comfortable and domestic affair. Almost every interviewer that walks through their door state that the rocker and artist not only enjoy being married and being parents but revels in that domesticity.

The fact is clear with Jessica who has created decades’ worth of artwork based around her domestic life, husband, and children. As her 20s were raucous and wild, this even included a heroin addiction as evidenced by this interview with W Magazine, the artist is more than happy to live a sedentary life than try to reclaim youthful chaos.

The same can also be said of Stephen. Though he never fell into the rock and roll lifestyle (substances, parties, and frivolous intimacy) that chewed up and spat out many of his peers including the tragic Kurt Cobain, Layne Stanley, and Scott Weiland, the singer has still seamlessly transitioned to an old man happy with his state in life.

The two also deeply love their home of Portland, where they have stayed for over two decades, birthed their children, and created countless works of art. Stephen even convinced all the members of his third and current band, The Jicks to move to the city so they could all live near together and perform whenever the mood struck the singer.

In fact, when the family had to move to Berlin, Germany in the early 2010s, Stephen, though always supportive of his wife, was very sad to go, and made it known whenever he could. Though the entire affair lasted only a couple of years, it only increased the singer’s love for the town, and since then the couple has stayed put and rebuilt their home to be a base of operations for both the singer and his artist spouse.

 Stephen Malkmus children include two daughters named Lottie and Sunday. Lottie was born on February 18, 2005 while Sunday was born on October 25, 2007.

Jessica gave birth to both daughters in Portland, and according to her both of their births were home births. The two also moved with their parents to Berlin during the brief period that the Malkmus family was stationed there.

Lottie Malkmus

Stephen daughter Lottie recently turned 18 years old. Lottie is the older of the two Malkmus children.

The young girl can sometimes seem like a perfect amalgamation of her two parents as she has two passions, art, and writing. Lottie’s art, much like her mother’s, is based around papier-mache, assemblages, and abstract paintings, while her writing retains the zany weariness that her father is famous for. 

Lottie shares her work on her Instagram and website where she has neatly separated the two facets of her artistic expression into different pages. According to her bio, she has a commitment to innovation and exploration which is informed by the world around her, much like her mother.

As for her career, per her LinkedIn Lottie started working as a Gallery Intern at the Addams and Ollman Gallery in Portland from June 2021 to August 2021. Here, she learned curating by shadowing the Gallery Manager.

Lottie has also worked as a Tennis Coach at Portland Parks & Recreation, a Vendor at the Portland Farmers Market, a Retail Associate, a Cellist, a Private Cello Teacher, and even a Studio Assistant at her mother’s studio. Currently, she is working as a Student Ambassador and in Equitable Community Engagement Leadership at Catlin Gabel School.

Sunday Malkmus

Stephen’s younger daughter, Sunday is 15 years old. Sunday is the youngest member of the Malkmus family.

Unlike her sister, Sunday is a very private person and has even closed her Instagram from public viewing. The young girl only has 95 followers on the page.

As per her bio, she is autistic and graduated from Victory Academy back in 2021.

Stephen and Jessica have an age difference of five years. Stephen was born on May 30, 1966, and Jessica on January 8, 1971.

The couple was born at nearly opposite ends of the country as Stephen was born in Santa Monica, California, while Jessica was born in Chicago, Illinois. Stephen was born to Mary and Stephen Malkmus Sr, the latter of whom was an insurance agent.

Stephen eventually moved to Stockton when he was 8 years old, and he lived a very mundane teenage life. According to the singer, he would work various odd jobs like flipping burgers and painting house numbers on the curbs of streets.

However, he also spent a fair amount of time partying and even spent a night in jail when he was 16 due to underage drinking. Jessica, on the other hand, had a sadder childhood as her mother passed away when she was only 12 years old.

Due to her mother’s untimely death, the young girl threw herself into reading and making art as an escape from her lonely adolescence. The talent she showed in the latter led her to Oberlin College in nearby Oberlin, Ohio, where she attained a BA in Art History and graduated Cum Laude.

Then, in 1997, she went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she finished a Post-Baccalaureate degree. Not yet satisfied, Jessica then studied for an MFA from the same institute which she eventually received in 1999. 

Though in the painting department, Jessica preferred to work in papier-mache and wires, and even studied under prominent artists Gaylen Gerber and Susanne Doremus.