Jessy Wilson-McFarlin

For Jessy Wilson-McFarlin, making art is about so much more than simply creating something beautiful. She is a recording artist, songwriter, and performer from Brooklyn, New York, who currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her husband, where she creates sculptures on canvas inspired by Scandinavian minimalism and Wabi-Sabi art. Using a mix of paint, plaster, and other materials to achieve artworks that flow and tell a story, Jessy incorporates the same experimental approach as when writing a song:  instead of trying to force her pieces to be anything, she lets them take the lead and show her what they want to become. The result is a natural, elemental landscape of lines that enliven the walls of a room and change with light and shadow.

In reflecting on her process, Jessy says:  “As a songwriter it’s natural for me to step into the world of visual art because I already have a relationship with creative surrender.  I’m comfortable with making something and not knowing where it will lead or how it will to turn out.  It’s a freedom that allows for the deepest healing in my life, and so my work as a visual artist is more about self-discovery than it is about following specific rules.  As a self-taught intuitive artist, working with my hands is purely a way to have a conversation—with the muse, with myself, and with the world around me.”