Jess (or Bexley), 40-something. Married, parent. Educator, artist, writer. Self-taught in almost all things. Queer. Non-binary/genderqueer.
They/them/theirs. Started testosterone HRT 11/22/25. Anxious, neurodivergent. Feminist, body-neutral to body-positive. East Coast, New England, Massachusetts. Geeky, fannish, hyperfixated. Over-caffeinated and under-slept.
I spent the better part of my adult life lamenting that I had abandoned art in high school; I wasn’t a prodigy of any stripe, but I did well in my art classes and I loved making art. At some point, life got the better of me, and anything I had resembling an art practice fell by the wayside. The further I got from my ten years the more daunting it felt trying to “catch up” and develop skills that I considered “acceptable” for my age, and the more embarrassingly self-indulgent the idea of committing to an art practice felt.
In 2018, having seen a number of folks in my online circles do Inktober, I bought myself a Dollar Tree sketchbook and decided to give it a try. I completed all 31 days, and felt moderately proud of what I was capable of, even after nearly 20 years away. I decided art as something that I might actually want to dabble in again.
It wasn’t until 2020, at the height of the pandemic — and with the very real feeling that this might actually be the end, not gonna lie — I finally committed to throwing myself wholeheartedly into the idea of making art a daily practice. I stated with graphite and micron, and slowly moved into acrylic and later, digital art.
In 2021, with much gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands, I applied to my first real project — the Fat Folks Tarot — and got accepted as an artist. I’ll be the first person to tell you, adamantly, that outside validation is never needed in order to be an artist, but I’d also be lying if I said it wasn’t this outside validation that really catapulted me into taking myself “seriously”* as an artist.
My favorite mediums continue to be digital and graphite, though I also like working with ephemera, pyrography, and occasionally acrylic and cross-stitch.
*”Seriously” here meaning, I claim the title with my whole chest, loudly and without reservation. Trust me, there is very little about myself of my art that I take particularly seriously, and I think that’s to my benefit.
Digital art; filling a sketchbook; morning pages; journalling; early Web 2.0 aesthetics; video essays on obscure pop culture; scented candles; unique and kitschy earrings; maximalist decor; junk journals; thrifting; fan conventions; learning Esperanto; learning ASL (on hold); zines; stimming (especially tactile and oral stims); ASMR; Taskmaster; scavenger hunts; sweet white wine; Hunt-a-Killer; puzzle games; The Rusty Lake series; Red Dwarf; nail art; coffee; text/typographic tattoos; old-school Nickelodeon shows; nostalgiacore; liminal spaces; bardcore cover songs; Blue Suburbia; pole dance; ShopGoowill.com; making spreadsheets; Neil Cicierega’s “Mouth…” albums; burlesque; musical theatre; Indian food.
The obvious -isms and -phobias, including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia; bisexual and non-binary erasure; phone calls (making and taking); unexpected changes in plan (nuanced and contextual); purity culture; influencer culture; fandom discourse; anything that bills itself as free but actually has hidden costs; the relentless onslaught of time; washing dishes; tactile and oral sensitivities.
Currently exhibiting at (and just sold a piece at) The CHALK Gallery in Newburyport; exhibiting at Essex Art Center and Rapscallion Music Hall starting July 11th. Nearing the end stages of Big Collaborative Project!
All Your Crooked Heart 