Jesse is a New Mexico based Artist and Designer. Her prolific career spans 20 years and a portfolio of projects shared all around the world. Her client work is diverse and is bound to no one medium. She makes impossible, possible.
Jesse's evolution as a creator has developed into an artful discipline allowing her to take any idea and bring it to an imaginative and refined completion. Her work is concise and executed with whimsy. The fabrication process is steeped in narrative. The building teams are misfits and creators of the highest caliber, and the rest are projects brought to life by her own hand.
A builder-artist-designer hybrid. A Hydra of creation. Jesse is available to collaborate in the forms of Design, Project Management, and Consultation. She can guide you through the world of creative fabrication from start to finish. Her history as the Owner and Operator of Skull Island A&F, a commercial art and fabrication studio, and a lifetime of building, makes her the ideal partner for projects big and small. One wizard to watch over the entirety of a build, an artist that has seen and done it all.
CV
Installation Works
Safe Haven — Axle Contemporary Gallery Truck
Santa Fe, NM · 2024
Cardboard ogre installation
Cardboard Institute of Technology
San Francisco · 2008–2017
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
San Francisco · 2020
Site-specific installation for new electric vehicle unveiling
The Glowing Garden
San Francisco · 2017
360° UV installation in collaboration with Stanlee Gatti and One Hat One Hand
Theatrical & Stage Installations
The Psychopomp Stage — Oregon Eclipse Festival
2017
Theatrical stage of performance
Splish Musical Stage — Immersive Theater
New Orleans · 2015
The Big One — New Year's Production
Civic Center, San Francisco · 2016
Musical stagepieces for large-scale production
Man-Tease Dance Stage
2016–2017
Performance stage for Male Strip Revue
Ouroboros Clock — The Armory
San Francisco · 2015
Large projection-mapped timepiece
The Pigeoning
Brooklyn, NY · 2013
Prop pieces for puppet show in collaboration with Robin Frohardt
Works on Permanent Exhibit
Audubon Zoo — White Alligator Exhibit
New Orleans · 2022
Immersive installation
Meow Wolf Omega Mart — Almost Earth
Las Vegas · 2021
Ultra violet immersive installation of oversized flowers and otherworldly companions
The Pawnshop
San Francisco · 2019
Speak-easy themed restaurant installation with tropical deco inspirations
The School House
Pulga, CA · 2016
Bar and venue as art installation and intimate gathering space
The Sycamore
Stockton, CA · 2016
Total building renovation — upcycled art installation, venue, and gathering space
Educational Projects
High Tech High — What's the Story?
San Diego · 2020
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
San Francisco · 2010–2017
Cardboard Costume Closet (Trashin' Fashion); The Tinkering Studio — cardboard engineering
San Francisco Day School
2014–2015
Art Forts — recycled materials creative engineering, grades 1–5; Cardboard Workshop — 6-week world-building course
Bullying — A Puppet Show
San Francisco · 2013
Puppeteering for DVD series on cyberbullying
Commissioned Works
Google — Sharks with Lasers & The Ill Tempered Sea Bass
Worldwide
Custom sculptures with functioning light pieces; Out for the Day — Curious Octopus wall-mounted dimensional art
Qualcomm / Popular Science — The Brain 2.0
2015
Created for Qualcomm's first international ad campaign
Popular Science Magazine — The Brain
2013
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
2021
Stop motion animation
Wildlife Freeway — Forest
2021
Projections and portals
Performance & Interactive Art
Fangor Four
Grenadine Islands · 2016
Pirate-themed immersive theater scavenger hunt on real ships
Man Tease Male Stripping Revue — MC "Blemon La Tinkle"
2016–2017
Alien host of intergalactic dance revue
Voter Lax 3000 — Dada Election Party
San Francisco · 2016
Large puppet machine allowing votes between Donald Trump and a Styrofoam Cup
The Pigeoning
2013, 2016
Puppeteer for stage performance
The Lifesize Mousetrap
2011–2015
Stage performer, educator, and touring engineer
Stars & Garters Theater Company
2009–2011
Musician and performer
Apocalypse Puppet Theater
2008–2011
Shadow puppeteer and puppet fabricator
Press
Almost Earth
HiFructose Magazine
Pulga School House
BUST Magazine
Splish Stage
The Guardian · nola.com