Life & Work with Jess Peoples of Green Hills, Nashville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Peoples

Hi Jess, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was 14 years old when I went to work at Mudpies Studio in Louisville, Kentucky, helping Mrs. Howe organize paints and prep canvas for her art class attendees. I’m pretty sure I would often just hop in without actually being scheduled or paid. This was not the beginning of my art career however, for my earliest memories are all about crafting with my grandma and feeling her radiance after hearing the brilliant stories she told.

With both sides of my extended family, storytelling, community and connection seemed to be a priority. The bigger the tales, the more engaged everyone got. People were often laughing, many times talking over each other to have the best version of the original story. I chuckled a lot and seemed to collect many art books and prints that reminded me of people I knew and stories I heard. Vacations were planned around visiting family and getting in or away from the large groups we seemed to always be in.

My dad wasn’t an official storyteller, but he and anyone else can tell you that he always has a couple he likes to repeat for years until he finds some new ones. Until I left home from college, our family evenings were spent around the table or living room recounting stories that happened that week and noting different people and connections we found amusing and interesting. I would play around with paint in some early mornings reflecting on the emotive qualities these stories created for me in my life and found that paint allowed me to process life.

I received a bachelors degree from Miami University and moved to Nashville as soon as I graduated to work for an early tech start-up named Emma. I worked as a designer and marketer for some more start-ups and local nonprofits before creating a path that allowed me to intentionally make time and space for painting. In 2019, I joined the Chestnut group and have put time and effort into not only learning from group members, but helping the group as a whole make a bigger presence and impact on the Nashville community. A few of us also had this lofty idea in the middle of the pandemic (along with friends Dale Finley, Sarah Clinton and Ellen Parker Bibb) to create a new art show benefitting Saddle Up! — and we did it, and are so excited about the opportunities it provided the community, both the artists and the nonprofit beneficiary. I continue to take classes at Warehouse 521, and learn from Jim Himsworth, Anne Blair Brown, Erin Martin, Sarah Sedwick, Kim Barrick and Chestnut artist friends who paint regularly with me.

I paint out of my home in Nashville alongside my husband, two children and dog Larry. My hope is that my art reflects on nature, storytelling and the general tenacity of nature and humans to get through different seasons.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Nothing worth doing is ever easy. And while being an artist can be difficult, it’s also beautiful and I’m so thankful to keep exploring and learning and growing as an artist. I’ve made invaluable connections with people and have had the honor of knowing deeply encouraging stories about their lives, all because of art.
One of the struggles is just getting work out in front of the right people and learning to accept getting rejected from a large percentage of applications. Many artists will agree, this is just part of the scene. You have to get rejected far more than you get accepted. You’ll never officially know “why” because art is so subjective. There is a lot of not great art that gets glorified. But, instead of being sour, I’ve learned to see beauty in the process and know that my work is getting better with the deliberate small actions I perform daily.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I paint from life whenever possible. I love painting outdoors and learning from the scene I’m painting. I have also recently been super intrigued with painting the figure from life and have several pieces featuring local Nashville women, in which I try to depict them from a female perspective. Lastly, I love painting commissions for people and learning about what moments have brought them joy. Being a part of that joy and helping them make their home special and uplifting is invaluable to me.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Please reach out to me via email at [email protected] or see recent work at JessPeoples.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jesspeoples.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jesspeoplesart
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/jesspeoplesart