Inspired by nature, Jess Stone cultivates wonder through her colorful, textural artwork
Mixed-media artist Jess Stone often notices texture in nature. It could be the bark of a tree she passes during her walks along the trail leading from her home to Lake Hartwell, or the surface of the rocks her young daughters collect.
The Anderson native brings those observations, along with childhood memories of growing up on 30 acres and visiting her grandparents’ lake home, into her space at Hive Studios. There she creates encaustic wax pieces infused with language and imagery and paintings whose sculptural surfaces look like colorful cake batter (they are actually layers of modeling paste, applied with palette knives and other tools, and acrylic paint). Each creation is an expression of her love of texture and color, of nature and the artistic process…