Show Boat changed her life. It was the summer of 2006 that Jess braved the stage for the first time since high school to be a chorus girl in Cindy Graham’s production of Show Boat at the Ariel Theatre. It was also that summer that she ended a bad marriage, moved into her own home with her baby girl, Serenity (Reni) and started back at Rio Grande after a 3 year “extended vacation” with no clear idea of what she was doing there.
Theatre kept Jess going. First a small Shakespeare play at the college, then a fateful Broadway Revue, where she designed her first show poster and was asked “Why aren’t you in Graphic Design?” The next fall she was officially an Art Major and hasn’t looked back. Now, several shows later, her daughter is looking at starting real school life in Kindergarten while she’s looking at finally finishing.
Jess has dedicated the last eight years of her life to studying graphic design and web development, in school and out, and applying that knowledge in freelance work in the area. She’s a rare breed with an eye for art, layout and typography, yet still unafraid to navigate the more technical side of the web. She’s currently using her skills to promote Fine Arts, Worship, and Literature, the beautiful things in life, from her home in Gallipolis, and was recently hired as an in-house designer for a growing local business. She plans to continue life here with Reni and her best friend Stephen for as long as this chapter in her life lasts.
The winged wolf is a symbol Jess has long embraced. The strength, stability and loyalty of the wolf when given the freedom, creativity and spirit of its own set of unique wings represents everything Jess stands for. Her freelance work is done with this theme, under the name “Wing o’ the Wolf Designs.” Her artistic goal is to combine the theatrical, the musical and the magical in her visual work. She of course blames her family for the way she is.