Jess Sumpter, also known as [ j s ], is a self-taught, queer multidisciplinary artist working across textile design, painting, and performance. Originally from Philadelphia and now based in New York City, their work explores movement, human anatomy, and the space between the physical and the etheric. Blending woven textiles, stitchwork, and expressive brushstrokes, Sumpter constructs tactile compositions that capture transformation in its most elemental form.
Referring to themselves as a “textile architect”, they approach their practice as both a physical and conceptual construction, where layers of thread, fabric, and pigment function as living structures. Their work is deeply personal yet universally resonant, embodying themes of birth, reinvention, and the perpetual unfolding of identity.
Origin: Philadelphia, PA
Currently Exhibiting in: New York City
Website: JS Art Studio
Social Media: Instagram: @j.sartstudio
Featured Artwork at Bushwick Gallery
first contact
- Year of Creation: 2025
- Medium: Wool, acrylic and cotton yarn, acrylic paint on monk’s cloth
- Dimensions: 31.5 in x 24.5 in
- Price: $11,000
- Description:
first contact explores creation, emergence, and the unseen forces that shape existence. The composition centers around the womb—a symbol of infinite potential, a space where thought transforms into form. Veins and threads trace the moment before birth, where energy, time, and transformation converge. The raw tactility of wool, cotton yarn, and paint enhances the physicality of this transition, while the hand-punched embroidery stitches act as both binding and release—a threshold between idea and material reality.
Jess considers this work a debut, a rebirth, marking their transition from corporate America to full artistic expression. Just as the piece explores the movement from thought to creation, it embodies the artist’s own emergence into an uncompromising, self-determined creative life.
Exhibition Information
March 2025: “Metamorphosis: Transformations in Art”
Curated by: Paridhi Chawla
Theme: Exploring transformation, change, and evolution through artistic expression.
Exhibition Dates: March 6 – March 13, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 6 | 6 PM – 8 PM
Guided audio experience
For accessibility, the full video transcript is provided below for those who prefer to read or are unable to listen.
“Jess Sumpter constructs art like architecture—layer by layer, thread by thread—building spaces where form and feeling merge. first contact is an exploration of creation, emergence, and the unseen forces that shape existence. The composition centers around the womb, a vessel of infinite potential, where energy gathers before taking shape.
Veins stretch across the surface, mapping the liminal space between past and future, thought and material. Wool, cotton yarn, and acrylic paint combine in a richly tactile surface, where hand-punched embroidery stitches both hold and release—binding the composition together while allowing for movement, expansion, becoming.
For Sumpter, this piece is more than an image; it is a threshold. Just as it explores the shift from conception to form, it mirrors the artist’s own transition—leaving behind corporate structures to fully embrace the creative unknown. first contact is not just about birth; it is about stepping into something new, something unbound, something entirely one’s own.”