Meet Arielle Jessop of Arielle Jessop Fine Art

Today we’d like to introduce you to Arielle Jessop.

Arielle, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My first impulse is to say I got started in college, the Art History and Studio Arts Program at Concordia University in Montreal; but when I think about it that’s not really accurate.

It was more of a slow burn with lots of distracted breaks in between spurts of moving forward. I was always “artsy”. I went to a Waldorf school as a child, an education that really encourages artistic expression, so I was painting and drawing and always thinking outside the box as a kid, but it never crossed my mind to be an artist when I grew up.

When I first went to university I was a French Literature major, and I was miserable. I struggled with pretty crippling anxiety and frequent panic attacks (those haven’t completely gone away but I’ve learned how to talk to them). It got so bad that I started to be unable to leave my house; I was not able to attend classes or even get myself to walk down the sidewalk without breaking into tears and returning home. I felt totally defeated.

It was around this time that my aunt, Beth Ellis, an artist and one of my closest confidants, suggested that I apply to art school. I later understood that she saw my battle with anxiety as suppressed artistic expression and wanted to help me find an outlet for that. She was right. I flourished in art school, got myself a really good therapist (for almost nothing because, free health care!) and started to make steps towards recovery.

After college, I moved to New York City, an interesting choice for someone prone to anxiety, but it sounded exciting and very cool. Most of my “New York Years” as I like to call them, were spent drinking heavily, ruining relationships and being totally lost. I had an art studio in Manhattan and then one in Brooklyn. I knew all the cool spots. I was making art that was weird and I thought meaningful, but, really, it was kind of empty. I applied to graduate school, got rejected by every single one, and went into a deep spiral of self-doubt and despair.

In this period, Beth, my aunt who inspired me to go to art school, died from ovarian cancer. Her partner of 35 years, my aunt Kathleen (another incomparable supporter and confidant of mine – they were my second parents and very dear to me) had a severe and paralyzing stroke, three days prior to her wife’s death. This was devastating and incomprehensible to me. I pulled back from my family. I wasn’t there for them when I should have been, and I became completely self-obsessed with my own grief.

But, in a sort of cruel twist of fate, it was my aunt’s death that really got me to where I am today. After she passed, I stepped into her role at the gallery she had owned in Ogunquit, Maine. I learned the ins and outs of the gallery practice, met other gallery artists and owners, found my groove in my painting and started to take myself seriously. The gallery has a new owner today but it’s still in the family and my work is still shown there.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The short answer is no, of course not. There have been, and continue to, be bumps along the road. Most of these struggles I talked about above, the toughest being self-doubt; I was very unsure of myself, more specifically of my concept of myself as an artist. There are so many challenges that come along with being self-employed in the arts. It has been financially daunting, and it’s hard to know if I’m making art that people will even want to buy.

Sometimes I don’t know if I can hack it. But frankly, I’ve actually been pretty lucky. I haven’t had to face direct discrimination or adversity. I have been truly supported by my family for any choices, even bad ones, that I have made. I have found and trust that I want to do something creative. I learned, early on in the exploration of myself, that art, making, creating, and collaborating run deep in my blood and that these things are my first priority. I feel grateful for that.

It’s hard to know what you want to do and to go after it. It took me a while to get here and to really commit and focus, but I am glad that I have found my direction. So, while the nitty-gritty is really challenging and I still struggle financially and with my own demons, the overall decision and dedication to my art has been an easy choice.

Arielle Jessop Fine Art – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am primarily a painter, I work mainly in oil and watercolor but work in all kinds of media. I paint a variety of subjects that range from seascapes and landscapes to food (veggies!) to self-portraits, to pop art objects, to abstract works in color. I paint in my studio and often outside ‘en plein air’ creating pieces for galleries, restaurants and shows. I also work closely with clients on commissioned pieces, whether it be a painting of a pet, a house, a loved one, a favorite place or favorite objects. I have an online presence that I do my best to keep current and an Etsy shop where collectors can find prints, originals, notecards and other fun creations of mine.

What I would like to be known for ultimately is just creating beauty and providing people with an opportunity to bring something that speaks to them in their home. Nature is one of my most important subjects and what I feel the most inspired to paint. What I’m most proud of is connecting with people over my work. Perhaps it’s about a memory they have or maybe they have a deeply emotional reaction provoked by a piece I’ve done; I really like talking about that stuff with people.

Art is expensive, and I take pride in knowing that people are buying a piece because they love it and they connect with it. I hope that every time they look at a piece of mine in their home they are reminded of something or someone they love. I want it to bring more peace and beauty into their world and the world as a whole. That’s important to me.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My personal definition of success is doing at least one thing each day to move forward.

That is how I feel that I am successful at the moment. But there are two broader types of success for me as an artist. The first is financial and career-oriented and the second is more personal.

The major markers for the former were things like getting my first real studio space in a building with other working artists, making enough art sales that I can limit the number of nights I need to bartend, getting asked to be in group shows and gallery shows and having those shows turn into income. Those types of things really help me feel like I’m going to make this work.

On a more personal level, success as an artist is about staying true to myself and doing my best to be original. It’s really hard in such a saturated media environment to keep things fresh. I find myself constantly bombarded with other images and worrying if they might influence, unintentionally, my own painting. I try to make sure that I am creating work that comes from inside me, that I want to put out into the world and that brings me joy.

Pricing:

• Watercolor originals range from $75-$695 depending on size, same is true for watercolor commissions
• Oil Originals range from $125-$1500 depending on size, framing, same is true for oil commissions
• Prints, matted, framed or as are in the area of $15-$125

Contact Info:

• Address: 1 Cottage Street Studio 512 Easthampton, MA
• Website: www.ariellejessop.com
• Email: arielle@ariellejessop.com
• Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ariellejessop.com
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ArielleJessop
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ImArielleJessop

Image Credit:
Cara Totman Photography, Robin Randolph Photography

Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.