Meet the Mutant ← Back to Menu

Suspend your disbelief, think impossible thoughts, then seek me, and I'll make them real.

I am a New Mexico based artist, fabricator, and creative director with two decades of hands-on experience across a wide landscape of disciplines: fine art, large-scale installation, immersive environment design, theater, puppetry, sculpture, and music. My practice is rooted in apprenticeships and craft traditions. Storytelling is foundational to everything I make from private work into public spectacle and commercial partnership, informing how I think about fabrication, spatial design and collaboration.

I design and build for festivals, cultural institutions, and experimental performance contexts. My professional partnerships span museums including the Exploratorium, the San Jose Discovery Museum, and the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans, education programs in San Diego and the Bay Area, and major entertainment institutions like Meow Wolf, Symbiosis Festival, and Treasure Island Music Festival. I have fabricated custom and specialized props for film and served as art director and fabricator for music videos. Across every collaboration, my approach is rooted in empathy and meaningful engagement. I believe that the depth of experience created for the client or audience is foundational to my practice, and that this commitment to genuine partnership is what distinguishes my work in a field often driven by aesthetics alone.

I work from the principle of creating narrative, giving character and relationship to nature, to process, to outcome. The result is work that is highly interactive, evocative, and thought-provoking. Because storytelling is the anchor, I get to draw on the full landscape of mediums and skills I have learned over a lifetime of making. My continuing evolution with these skills is in service to this foundational practice, enabling me to collaborate meaningfully across the widest possible spectrum of clients and contexts.

The people who seek me out are dreamers and risk takers who understand that the most monumental work comes from the most unconventional minds.

Jesse RK Wilson
Jesse "Roadkill" Wilson
CV
Installation Works
Almost Earth Desert themed ultraviolet immersive installation on permanent exhibit
Audubon Zoo Permanent exhibit for the White Alligator and the newly renovated South American River Delta habitat — two separate projects
Safe Haven — Axle Contemporary Gallery Truck Cardboard ogre installation
Cardboard Institute of Technology Site-specific interactive, educational, and immersive works made entirely of cardboard. Exhibited at The Exploratorium (2011, 2014, 2017), San Jose Discovery Museum (2012), SF Arts Commission Gallery (2013), Bedford Gallery (2012), The Battery.
Mini Cooper — Chase Stadium Site-specific installation for new electric vehicle unveiling
The Glowing Garden 360° UV installation
Theatrical & Stage Installations
The Psychopomp Stage — Oregon Eclipse Festival Theatrical stage of performance
The Splish Stage — Voodoo Festival Custom built stage for a mermaid themed mask theater show
Interior Design
The Pawnshop LLC Total building renovation — tropical deco themed speakeasy and tapas bar
Pulga Schoolhouse Restoration and installation design for historic schoolhouse
The Sycamore Total building renovation — upcycled art installation, venue, and gathering space
Educational Projects
High Tech High — What's the Story? 10-part virtual curriculum focused on filmmaking and organizational practices for creative projects. Includes Corona Virus Chronicles, a 2-episode series of collected student works.
The Exploratorium of Science Cardboard Costume Closet (Trashin' Fashion); The Tinkering Studio — cardboard engineering
San Francisco Day School Art Forts — recycled materials creative engineering, grades 1–5; Cardboard Workshop — 6-week world-building course
Bullying — A Puppet Show Puppeteering for DVD series on cyberbullying
Commissioned Works
Google — Sharks with Lasers & The Ill Tempered Sea Bass Custom sculptures with functioning light pieces; Out for the Day — Curious Octopus wall-mounted dimensional art
Qualcomm / Popular Science — The Brain 2.0 Created for Qualcomm's first international ad campaign
Popular Science Magazine — The Brain Commissioned prop for cover page
Film & Production
Sorry to Bother You Prop jewelry — pez-dispensing medication crucifix
The Wind Custom embroidery
Heaven Through the Back Door Miniature props and sets
Music Videos
Ponyhunt — Stardust Stop motion animation
Wildlife Freeway — Forest Projections and portals
Performance & Interactive Art
Fangor Four Pirate-themed immersive theater scavenger hunt on real ships
Man Tease Male Stripping Revue — MC "Blemon La Tinkle" Alien host of intergalactic dance revue
Voter Lax 3000 — Dada Election Party Large puppet machine allowing votes between Donald Trump and a Styrofoam Cup
The Pigeoning Puppeteer for stage performance
The Lifesize Mousetrap Stage performer, educator, and touring engineer
Stars & Garters Theater Company Musician and performer
Apocalypse Puppet Theater Shadow puppeteer and puppet fabricator
Press
Ogre Mortimer
Almost Earth
Pulga School House
Splish Stage
Clients
Installation
  • Audubon Zoo New Orleans, LA
  • Meow Wolf Las Vegas, NV
  • Google Mountain View, CA
  • Splunk San Francisco, CA
  • Facebook San Francisco, CA
  • Stanlee Gatti San Francisco, CA
  • Mini Cooper — Chase Center San Francisco, CA
  • Be8a — Chase Center San Francisco, CA
  • Bunjee Seattle, WA
Interior Design
  • Town of Pulga Pulga, CA
  • The Pawnshop LLC San Francisco, CA
  • The Sycamore Stockton, CA
Prop, Sculpture & Custom Work
  • Qualcomm San Francisco, CA
  • Lady Falcon Coffee Club San Francisco, CA
  • Google Worldwide
  • Stagecoach Greens San Francisco, CA
  • One Hat One Hand San Francisco, CA
  • Ingress 2.0 San Francisco, CA
Educational Institutions
  • The Exploratorium San Francisco, CA
  • San Jose Discovery Museum San Jose, CA
  • SF Day School San Francisco, CA
  • High Tech Middle School San Diego, CA
Music Festivals & Events
  • Symbiosis
  • Oregon Eclipse Festival
  • Treasure Island Music Festival
  • Outside Lands
Film & Production
  • Mirabel Productions Heaven Through the Back Door
  • Sorry to Bother You
  • The Wind
  • Stars & Garters Theater Company
  • The Pigeoning
  • Psychedelic Friendship Bingo
  • ManTease
  • Apocalypse Puppet Theater
  • The Lifesize Mousetrap
Music Videos
  • Ponyhunt
  • Wildlife Freeway