Artist in conversation: Jessica Raynsford
“there’s always darkness in the humour, there’s always balance”
Jessica Raynsford is a queer London-based designer and artist. Her artistic journey spans a wide array of mediums, including visual art, music, performance, architecture, and design. Jessica believes in infusing every project with expressive elements, irrespective of its size or scope.
An architect by training, Jessica credits her background for instilling structure, resilience, and a comprehensive set of design skills in her. However, she asserts that her unique problem-solving abilities and out-of-the-box thinking stem from her diverse experiences across various creative fields.
Her art does not seem to fit through a filter, she does exactly what brings her joy, what feels right in the moment. And that notion of trusting yourself completely is truly admirable.
What initially inspired you to become an artist, and how did you develop your unique style?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been creative - I’ve always had the mindset that if something I’m imagining doesn’t yet exist, I can make it exist. My love for learning new crafts and skills helps a lot with that. Using art for creative expression was a decision I made during a period where my mental health was at its lowest, and I needed an outlet; a way to translate feelings that I didn’t yet have the skills to articulate verbally - which is when I started exploring not only the mindful benefits of crafting and making, but expression through visual art.
My style is a combination of the art that I like, my technical abilities (both my skills and my limitations come into play here), and the way that I work being greatly affected by my adhd (impatience!) I also don’t really go into each piece knowing what I want it to look like. I have the feelings and I just go - I don’t believe any two of my pieces look that similar, but many people who know my work can spot it from a mile away. Although I suppose there are some running similarities e.g. I like being verbal in my work, I enjoy contrasting expressive colourful backgrounds with strong lines and imagery etc. I feel that for each piece’s “style” the biggest influence is the subject matter itself, plus whatever state I’m in while I’m producing it.
In terms of subject matter, what themes or motifs do you frequently explore in your work, and what draws you to these topics?
Despite having spent the last few years making headway with my mental health struggles and neurodivergence, art started as an important way for me to process certain events and feelings outside of my own head and it remains as such. It’s so easy as a neurodivergent person (particularly a high functioning, high masking one) to feel misunderstood or lonely, so the more ways that I can utilise different mediums to translate my experiences the more I feel that one day, people might understand.
The combination of expressive mark-making, humor, and delicate features in your artwork sounds intriguing. How do these elements contribute to the overall message or story that you aim to convey through your art?
I think these elements help the narrative of my work remain well rounded - in my own outlook there’s always darkness in the humour (and vice-versa), there’s always balance. So even in my darkest moments, and with the darker themes of my work, there’s always a tongue in cheek element or a bit of a reality check to either add to the tragedy or take away from it depending on the way you’re reading it. My utmost goal of my work is to be understood, so if I didn’t include those moments of balance and contrast, the narrative wouldn’t be true.
Can you discuss a specific piece or project that challenged you as an artist, and how you overcome those challenges?
Recently I did a commission where the client and I had different visions, although they enjoy my style and respect my work and process as an artist, they wanted a more conventional portrait. It’s not that I was adamant against it, but I had to completely push myself technically to create a portrait that I was still proud of stylistically - that still felt like “me”. I get easily disheartened or frustrated when a piece doesn’t look like it’s coming
together, and it took much longer than anticipated but both the client and myself were really excited about the outcome, and I actually really enjoyed getting out of my comfort zone.
How do you believe your unique perspective as a queer artist shapes the narratives you create?
I think being queer and non-binary means that I like to play with balance. Building on my answer to the previous question, I like holding two contrasting statements against each other and insisting that they can not only harmonize, but create something bigger than the sum of their parts. Growing up queer and neurodivergent certainly explains many of the narratives of loneliness or isolation, but the unapologetic strength and boldness of my stylistic approach can also be linked to those aspects of myself as well - despite not being nearly as bold or unapologetic in real life, at least my art can be.
How do you stay connected with other artists and keep up with new developments and trends in the art world?
I read a lot, so much of my income goes towards magazines, memberships, events and workshops. Instagram is a great resource despite also being a bit of a pain to maintain. I don’t have that many friends in the art world, but I have a close friend who’s also an established artist, and it’s an unspoken rule of our friendship that we always go to new exhibitions together and dive deep into each other’s work when we see it.
How do you incorporate feedback from critics and audiences into your artistic practice, and how do you balance this feedback with your own artistic intuition?
Having a background in architecture has meant that I have quite a thick skin when it comes to criticism but I believe I’ve found a sweet spot when it comes to considering feedback but also being sure and confident in my own practice. I believe that taking advice can be a great step to improve my art, but intuition needs to come first, because otherwise it’s not really my own work or my own voice.
How do you stay motivated and inspired despite any setbacks or creative blocks you may encounter?
I rest. Truthfully, having adhd means I can’t force myself to do something I don’t have the energy or motivation for, so I have to find ways around this as a necessity. So giving myself permission to rest, or permission to produce something without pressure or purpose, or even to change my perspective (for example if I have no inspiration or motivation to create meaningful art, I’ll remind myself that even just painting by numbers, colouring in or picking up some clay will benefit my mental health regardless of the outcome). Although I mostly exhibit my paintings, I often change mediums to a different craft altogether like knitting or even writing and producing music... Whatever gets me excited. If all else fails, I give myself genuine permission to rest, and usually it’s then that inspiration resurges.
How do you feel about exhibiting your artworks with The Holy Art Gallery?
Honestly it’s really exciting, the momentum for my work had been building all year, each exhibition getting longer, the venues more prominent and my work selling and getting noticed - This exhibition is probably going to be my last of the year to give myself a little break - and it’s definitely the cherry on top!
Looking ahead, what are your long-term goals and aspirations as an artist, and how do you plan to achieve them?
I’d love to go back a step and grow my technical skills, keep showing my work and continue being able to make extra income from it. It’s not the reason I make art, but it certainly is validating and extremely useful. If my art career keeps growing exponentially with each exhibition, I’ll be going in the right direction. I’d also like to push myself to expand my circle and collaborate with more artists next year.