Me presenting research on printmaking
Jess was born in West Des Moines, Iowa, and was raised as one of ten siblings. From a young age, they had a fascination with art, that stemmed from their paternal Grandmother’s love of art. Even though Jess’s parents divorced at a young age, after moving to South Carolina, they both still supported their daughter’s growing love of art.
Jess avoided art classes in their youth, only wanting to draw and depict things they wanted to draw. It wasn’t until high school that they began to take art seriously, with the specific encouragement of Ann Bishop at Wren High School. Mrs. Bishop encouraged Jess, remarking on their intuitive color and movement choices in their work, and instilling a drive in Jess to pursue art.
Jess spent a semester living in New York, and became greatly inspired by impressionist painters, specifically Vincent Van Gogh. They researched his life immensely, and became fascinated by his bold use of color and motion to depict things the way he saw them. Jess was inspired, and began to try to depict things in their life that inspired them, from everyday people to everyday objects. Every moment that they could capture through art, they did.
After moving to Charleston and becoming a student there, Jess found printmaking. Specifically, Jess fell in love with Lithographic Printmaking under the guide of Professor Barbara Duval. Professor Duval encouraged Jess to branch out outside of their limited view of art, and work from the Great Masters’ work, such as Rembrandt, Picasso, DaVinci. Professor Duval not only encouraged Jess to do art that inspired them, but to copy works that inspired them to learn how these works were done.
Under the guide of Professor Duval, Jess and her mentor were awarded two grants for polyester printmaking, which more can be found out about these grants on this website.
Me and Murray
Jess considers themself a lover of color theory, and then a printmaker, when it comes to art. They have a passion for color mixing, matching, and relationships that drives them to do more elaborate palettes with each piece they do, and continually branch out to find ways to make their color choices even better. As a printmaker, Jess is constantly innovating to try to make their prints better. In their time as a printmaker, they have continually updated their processes in order to produce better quality works, including recording their processes to review and improve over time. While Jess loves drawing and painting, they mostly use these skills to further their prints.
If you want to keep up with Jess when they’re not in the studio, you can follow their personal account, @jessis_gurl on Instagram or Twitter.