meet Jess Howe

I’m Jess Howe and I’m an artist.

As a Jackie of all trades and master of some, creating in any medium has always given me the realest sense of self fulfillment. From as early as I can remember, I fell for the fact that creating work based off of my view of the world made me a student to simple everyday life. A landscape became a study of perspective, magic hour became a study of hue and highlights, and clouds became a master class with the greatest artist of all time, mother nature herself.

My artistic knowledge is a mix between self taught skills and skills I learned from my education at the Fashion Institute of Technology. With degrees in both visual arts and interior design along side my minor in art history, I built a strong base to then teach myself furniture refinishing, vintage restoration, painting, and many other art forms.

Through opening my own shop selling a mix of vintage, handmade, & houseplants, I was able to find an outlet for my passion to work with my hands and help others create and design a life with color and joy by focusing on individuality. Years of connecting with the world in this way, I’ve met and worked with so many creatives that have helped me gain the courage to embark on my next artistic endeavor, contemporary painting.

At the end of 2023, I took the leap to start my first acrylic painting on canvas after accepting a custom request for a lighthouse painting framed by a salvaged antique window I was also restoring. Something that I had a vague knowledge of through basic color theory classes in college suddenly took over my everyday. I found that spark of passion by studying the world like I did while drawing as a child. A spark just like the one I felt refinishing a piece a furniture for the first time. I knew immediately for the second time in my professional and creative life I started a fire that I had to keep alive. In the coming months it took to finish that first painting, I began the process of conceptualizing and planning the next 6 paintings I would create which now is known as ‘The Rebuild’ series.

With part one of this series complete, I’m here to finally start the process of sharing this with the world for whoever comes across it. My series ‘The Rebuild’ will focus on exposing some of the most fragile parts of myself to create beauty out of my hardest moments. You can follow along this journey through here or through social media. Thanks for joining me on the ride!