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Jessie has been an artist all of her life, drawing incessantly as a kid in her spare time and immersing herself in arts and crafts activities. Originally she aspired to be a veterinarian, then a jockey and, after that, a medical examiner. Instead, she graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with her BFA in Illustration, earned her Masters of Education in Arts and Learning and currently works as an art teacher in her childhood hometown north of Boston. A trip to Alaska moved her spiritually and artistically. She fell in love with the breathtaking and awe-inspiring majesty of the wilderness, the native arts on natural materials and the mystical connection of the art to the animals of the region. Paintings, masks, wooden bowls and even furniture were painted or carved with the animals right into the pieces. She began to develop an appreciation for the simplified and abstract animal symbols of the first people. Ironically she even happened upon a massive pyrographic portrait of a moose on a stunning piece of ash in a charming gallery outside of Denali. A quirk of fate? Coincidentally, around the same time, a trip to the hardware store introduced her to the art of pyrography. Absent-mindedly flipping through how-to paperbacks in the book section while her husband perused the tools she came upon some beautifully rendered pictures burnt into wood. She left the store that day with a new and simple woodburning pen and a piece of wood. She discovered burning into wood not only produced beautiful sepia toned images, it also came with the comforting aroma of smoldering wood and kept her hand warm all at the same time! Her work is a combination of things she likes to do. As a portrait artist she enjoys capturing the character of her subject with an emphasis on the eyes. She is so fond of the challenge of capturing the eye she has begun to focus solely on eyes in her tagua nut burnings she creates for stunning jewelry pendants. It is said the eyes are the gateway to the soul or the spirit. The eyes for her carry the essence of the animal. But her favorite part of this novel art form is the wood she works on. Each piece of maple burl has a distinct shape and color that designates the subject she is going to portray. She loves the uniqueness of each shape, the swirling grain patterns and the natural bark borders that allude to the wilderness that many of her subjects inhabit. Her fine art on burl woods are portraits of the animals she is partial to illustrating. She particularly enjoys depicting wolves. She loves to work with an expressive image like a ferocious, growling tiger, a roaring bear or fang-bearing wolf. Her owls with their intense stares have won numerous awards. She works patiently drawing in all of the textured fur and feathers and highlights her pieces for a touch of contrast. She is thrilled with this new beginning in her personal creative journey. Her talent has been well received in carving shows earning awards and praise and she is a juried member of the prestigious League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. | |||||
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Biography |