Jessica is an artist based out of the Midwest.

Jessica’s love for art flourished from an early age through a personal experience. It was after she was diagnosed with the learning disability of dyslexia in second grade that she discovered art as the perfect way of self-expression. She was confused by the term disability, though, because she knew she could learn. She had an active imagination and was learning all the time, but she just couldn’t take in information and process it the way she was told she should. So she started exploring ways to process thoughts and information but also express herself, and one of those methods was art making.

From an early love for art

It was also thanks to the influence of her grandmothers, who were artists in their own right, and who made pottery and paintings. She was exposed to their beautiful influence in her world and was inspired to find her own way of creative expression thanks to their support and knowledge of art.

This experience allowed Jessica to push forward beyond the challenges she encountered in learning due to dyslexia. It showed her how to view life differently and to keep going toward her goal of becoming a professional in the creative field.

To bigger pursuits

During college, she enrolled at a university and declared an Interior Design major. She hoped her keen eye for colors and shapes, solid visual memory and passion for beautiful spaces would be enough to carry her through. She gave the Interior Design program all she had to give but got completely burnt out to the point where her health was in jeopardy.

Something had to change so she decided to put her Interior Design degree on hold and she shifted her focus to her Art minor. She had always loved art and excelled at it in high school, but she really fell in love with it, in a whole new way, in college.

She discovered her passion for the abstract expressionist style of painting and for the first time in her life she realized that although she struggled to read and write…

She certainly knew how to convey herself through the language of color, texture, scale and brushstrokes.

She didn’t have to explain herself in art. She quickly realized she could not only be successful at something, but she could be successful at something that she loved and came to her and through her without so much struggle.

There was a huge shift during that time in her life from being ashamed of her dyslexia to being grateful for it.

She realized that a new view in her perspective made all the difference, so she dove, headfirst, into the world of art. She experimented. She created many amazing works along with a lot of bad art. She began to trust her instincts and her intuition. She began to gain confidence in who she was and what she had to offer. She graduated with an Art major and an Interior Design minor and has been a professional artist ever since.

A contemporary view

She has also realized that, as with any worthwhile path, her journey is never-ending. In order to sustain and expand her success, she has no choice but to keep reinventing her creative expression and rebirthing herself in the process.

Jessica sees her art as not simply a static piece on a wall, but a powerful living presence in a space. It symbolizes our collective journey - the journey that everyone is on to transcend what is holding us back and to become more clear and more confident in the unique passions we harbor and the important gifts we have to offer the world. The journey we are all on to elevate our lives to a new level of beauty and inspiration.

Her hope is that her art not only brings more color into your space, but also breathes more life into your world. And leaves all who witness it with a lasting impression of your joy of living.

Art today

Jessica Wachter has become a highly-acclaimed abstract expressionist artist. She is based in Bismarck, North Dakota. Her mixed media and oil on canvas work are strongly gestural and often large in scale. Her work contains personal celebrations, struggles, joys, loves, and losses conveyed through the use of color, texture, and composition. Working with abstraction, Jessica seeks to imbue the work with a tangible essence while keeping it open for the viewers’ own response.

Jessica’s pieces reside in public and private collections throughout the world. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions around the United States. Hosts to her work have included, among others, the International Art Basel Event in Miami, FL, Laguna Gallery of Contemporary Art, in Laguna Beach, CA, the juried Celebration of Fine Art show in Scottsdale, AZ, and the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND. Jessica and her work have been acclaimed in major publications and media throughout the United States.