Jessa's paintings and drawings emerge from her experiences in the backcountry and celebrate playful moments of awe and temporality within the wild.
She creates artworks that exemplify the passing of time, bringing a fluid dance into the static medium of paint. Her work aims to uplift, enliven space, and explore the joys of being out in the natural world.
"The goal of the artwork is to celebrate the joy of wilderness, adventure, and play in the outdoors."
Her pursuits of art and adventure led her to become a CSGA certified backcountry snowboard guide. You can find her across the globe in the winter working as a snowboard guide, or out on the trails playing and painting directly from the natural world.
Jessa Gilbert x RiNo Arts District x Burton Snowboards :: Denver CO ~3,600 sq/ft
Jesse Dawson photo : Whistler, BC
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Jessa grew up in Upstate New York before moving to Vermont to study Art, Art History, and Sociology at the University of Vermont... and to snowboard. She worked primarily as a figurative painter and product developer while also competing nationally in freestyle snowboarding.
Jessa is currently based out of Squamish, British Columbia where she works as an Artist and CSGA certified backcountry split board guide. Here, the union of Art and the outdoors is part of her everyday life. Jessa’s artwork and murals have been featured internationally, notably in New York, Denver, California, Argentina, Utah, Montreal, Washington, Vancouver, Squamish, and Whistler. She is also well known for her speaking and writing, giving presentations, publishing films, and printing stories from adventures across the globe.
She has a long list of brand partnerships, such as YETI, Suunto, Lincoln Motor Company, Qualtrics, White Claw, Burton Snowboards, Great Big Story, Salomon Freeski, Stance Socks, Marriott Hotels, Mountain Equipment Co-Op (MEC), Fox Racing, Trek Bicycles, the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF), and many more projects listed here.
Interested in working together on a project, design, commission, or collaboration? Let's connect!
Suunto Creator Series :: A snowboard guide by winter, and a passionate artist inspired by nature Jessa Gilbert lives to be in the outdoors.
“We are in a time where we are starting to remember that public art is important,” Jessa says. “The beauty of public artwork is that you are creating artistic environments.”
Jessa worked with Great Big Story and Courageous Studio in the Summer of 2018 to create a large backcountry painting at the top of Little Ring Mountain, with the help of helicopter pilot Brad Friesen, and then created a mural in Squamish BC to forever encapsulate that moment in a permanent, public, larger than life medium. Watch the documentary from the experience for more on the art practice, a recount of the experience, and some notes upon the process.
