Jess Kalinowski

Artist Bio Jess is a Boston-based visual artist and writer whose work is shaped by a life lived across many chapters—military service, teaching, solo backpacking, van life, and years in the skies as a flight attendant. She holds a B.A. in Legal Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Houston. She works out of her studio at 46 Waltham in Boston. Her work has been featured in the Beacon Hill Art Walk (2025), the Boston Arts Festival (2025), the Gallery at 46 Waltham, the Gallery at North Edmonds in Washington, and ADC Fine Art Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio. A transformative trip to Paris marked a turning point in her artistic path, affirming that creating and sharing her work is central to her life’s direction. Whether sketching with charcoal in the back galley of a plane at 30,000 feet or layering paint in her studio, her work moves between worlds—rooted in lived experience while reaching toward something both immediate and eternal. In addition to her visual practice, Jess writes and publishes poetry, weaving language into her exhibitions. Her books and artwork exist in dialogue, each informing the other. Whether through image or word, her work seeks to create connection—reminding viewers of the depth, strength, and creative force already living within them.

Materials and Techniques: Jess works primarily in charcoal and oil painting, often beginning intuitively through meditation, dream imagery, or symbolic sketching before developing richly layered compositions. Influenced by surrealist traditions and mythic symbolism, she explores themes of transformation, archetype, and the liminal space between the visible and unseen, using layering, contrast, and symbolic motifs to create work that bridges instinct and intention.

Website: http://www.visionsbyjess.com

Instagram : @visions.by.jess