Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Morales.
Hi Jessica, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Growing up I was fascinated by art and fashion history, I loved researching different periods around different cultures. In my earlier college days, I was studying art history and fell in love with Renaissance, Baroque, and Greek Antiquity. I spent most of my time going to museums doing papers and thesis on my favorite art pieces. Also, growing up Catholic and surrounded by Catholic iconography, I could never take my eyes off them because of how beautiful they looked. I think over time my obsession for art history transcended into wanting to create for myself. I taught everything myself and had no background whatsoever in art but just knew it was calling me; once you start, you just learn as you go.
Painting has taught me a lot about myself, learning to have discipline, and it became therapeutic for me to express myself emotionally. There’s something transformative about painting literally and metaphorically, taking a white blank canvas and expressing a vision onto it after that’s filled with color. I later got into assemblage sculpture making because I love trying new mediums and challenging myself as an artist. As much as I love painting, there’s something about sculpture-making that surpasses painting, I love it being in my physical reality, holding it, and seeing it from various perspectives; it’s interactive. I now take on a variety of different projects at once, going back and forth from painting, and sculpture assemblages, creating new hair jewelry, and taking on new art mediums. I strongly believe in the idea that if you have enough passion and determination, you can be a master of all.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s been some bumps on the road, I think the biggest struggle is not believing in my potential as an artist. Growing up, my family didn’t see value in art. In addition, being underestimated and not supported by your surroundings can be discouraging. Over time, I learned to become my support system and relied on myself thankfully along the way, I met other amazing creatives I befriended that supported me. I think when you can create something, transcend what is looked down upon, or from being alone you don’t care what satisfies the audience because it’s coming from an authentic place and becomes your reality. Now, I am grateful I was underestimated because it taught me how to advocate and have confidence for myself and others who may have trouble expressing themselves.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I would definitely describe my art style as eclectic I like to try new art mediums as much as I can because I love them all. I derive my inspiration from my dreams, lived experiences, personal interests, environment, and so on. Right now, I mainly focus on painting, assemblage sculptures, and handmade hair jewelry. The first painting I ever did was the Virgencita in inverted colors, which I saw in a dream I had. I intentionally chose her to be in negative colors a metaphor for when we think of inverted colors, it’s the opposite of regular colors, it looks unsettling and confusing to the eye. So when applied to the Virgencita, I wanted it to convey the “opposite” or “inverted” meaning of what she represents: something unholy or sinful. I also love painting in a fisheye-type of perspective; I have a lot of fun with it, most of my paintings, I usually like to paint in fisheye because I dream in that perspective.
Most of my ideas before I start a project come from my dreams, which I think can’t get more authentic than that because it’s coming from my subconscious. The first assemblage sculpture I did was on a series called “How Many More Prayers?” with Mary and Jesus painted in red with AR rifles forming a “halo” effect. I got the idea from my experience as a kindergarten teacher having to practice lockdown drills for if there was a shooting on the school campus. I just thought how frightening it is to be working at a school and as a student in this day and age with how big gun culture is. A sentiment victims tend to hear after these events is “I’m sending you my prayers” which doesn’t fix anything, so I just thought how many more prayers would it take for students or people to feel safe in public spaces? I remember my friend Matthew Romasanta saw them and photographed them, really bringing them to life and helping dramatize the message I was conveying. Then, from my accumulation of love for sculpture making and art history, I also love medieval weaponry, specifically morning star flails.
In addition, I love seeing strong female characters using weapons, and I had this inspiration from seeing one of my favorite movies, Kill Bill with the character Gogo Yubari using a mace flail and derived that as inspiration for making morning star flails as hair jewelry. I love incorporating medieval weapons into modern fashion styles. I was surprised at how well received they were online, and after a bunch of requests for people wanting them, I started making more and selling them.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Probably when I used to do ballet, which I did from when I was 5 to 17 years old. I think what I learned in ballet I transferred onto my art and other aspects of my life, like perfectionism, perseverance, attention to detail, and patience. Another I would have to say is being born and raised in the valley in North Hollywood and Van Nuys I spent most of my childhood at my abuela’s with cousins. The valley has a special place in my heart.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://evilfaery.etsy.com
- Instagram: Evilfaery
Image Credits
Cover photo: Citlally Valdez How Many More Prayers? Sculptures: Matthew Romasanta
