Artist Statement

My art focuses on how I see and value the landscape that surrounds me. My recent work advocates for green space, green infrastructure, biodiversity, and re-greening within urban and suburban environments and finds inspiration from natural histories, maps, urban wildlife, plants, gardens, and parks. My artistic practice has two prongs; making object based artwork and creating art events that engage communities with nature. My goals and mission stem from the core belief that by incorporating more nature in the city, nurturing it, raising awareness about it, and connecting people to it can improve overall health and well being for all inhabitants as well as incentivize greater care for the environment at large, all while addressing environmental justice and climate change. 

My creative process begins by walking a landscape extensively, simply being in it, and learning its natural history and present state through research and consultation with ecologists, naturalists, and/or horticulturists. I also like to sketch, photograph, and collect specimens on site. Back at the studio I fuse all of the above with memory, digital imagery, and maps into compositions in oils and mixed media. In my oil paintings I combine expressive strokes with photo realistic details in an attempt to both evoke feeling as well as accurately document flora and fauna. My use of borders has multiple purposes; to represent the hardscape surrounding landscape, to create areas of quiet, and to frame the imagery. The use of mixed media, including repurposed artwork, echos the layers that make up urban and suburban landscapes.

Repurposing older works into new artwork is another aspect of my studio practice; this often results in mixed media mosaics and collages. I view everything in my studio as either a finished piece or material for a future artwork. Also, to reduce my artistic carbon foot print, I’m conscious of my consumption of art materials and am committed to creating light weight artwork that require less energy to store, display, and transport. 

For the second aspect of my artistic practice, creating art events that raise awareness about urban nature and engage communities with nature, I often partner with nature- forward organizations and use online platforms to reach people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. These events include; botanical drawing of locally foraged plants, nature journaling in natural areas, walks, and/or plein air painting and drawing in green spaces. Many of the art events are offered free of charge, notably the Mindful Nature Journaling Hikes through NYC parks. 

Bio

Jessica Dalrymple studied Fine Art at Hamilton College and trained as a painter at The Art Student's League of New York and studied with renowned landscape painters; Gregg Kreutz, Scott Christenson, and John Osbourne. She has exhibited with many national and regional juried shows and has received numerous awards including the Fenimore Award which granted her a solo exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY and was commissioned by City Harvest as part of their Arts Initiative program. She earned a certificate in horticulture from Brooklyn Botanical Garden, is a licensed city tree pruner through Trees New York, and actively volunteers with local conservancies and environmental groups.

She collaborates with nature forward organizations to create art events that raise awareness about the local landscape and environmental issues such as; co-creating ArtLab Gowanus, a pop-up structure hosting landscape related art workshops taught by local artists, made possible by the Gowanus Public Art Grant, applied for in collaboration with The Gowanus Canal Conservancy (2015). In 2014 she created a “Plein Air On The Canal” event hosting orgs such as local chapters of The Urban Sketchers and Oil Painters of America on the banks of the canal to capture the evolving landscape. Other events include Botanical Drawing for the Gowanus Dredgers focusing on local vegetation, multiple Botanical Drawing events for The Old Stone House Brooklyn featuring their gardens, and a Botanical “Drink n Draw” event to raise funds for The Human Impact Institute. Most recently she leads monthly “Mindful Nature Journaling Hikes” through New York City Parks.