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Jesse Roode is a multidisciplinary artist, facilitator and educator of Italian/German ancestry from Mi’kma’ki, currently living and working between their settler territory and the unceded lands of the Syilx/Okanagan Nation. Their practice centres on expressive line work, symbolic imagery, and material experimentation, blending traditional and digital media to explore identity, emotion, and the unseen.
Drawing from post-human theory, folklore, and dreamscapes, Jesse creates ethereal figures and minimalist forms that communicate through restraint and intentional mark-making. Working with graphite, ink, paint, cyanotype and block printing, they resist over-embellishment in favour of simplicity—evoking meaning through line weight, gesture, and negative space. Jesse’s visual language is inspired by the natural world and the stylized emotional clarity of manga. Influences such as Ai Yazawa and Naoko Takeuchi shape their approach to character and composition, where softness, symbolism, and sentient charge are expressed with subtle precision. Their work bridges organic and digital aesthetics, inviting viewers into quiet, contemplative spaces that explore what it means to exist in flux—betwixt real and imagined, human and otherworldly. CV PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Current, Educator, Kelowna Arts Academy 2022-2025, Teacher, Studio9 School of the Arts 2023, Arts Facilitator, Rotary Centre for the Arts, Summer of Arts Youth Programs 2020-2019, Arts Facilitator, Ross Creek Center for the Arts, March/Summer Break Camps 2020-2019, Board Member/Head of Communications Committee, Red Clay Studio Society 2019, Arts Facilitator, Red Clay Art Farm, Creative Dream Retreat 2019-2018, Arts Educator, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Summer Camp/PD Day Camp/Family Day 2018, Programming Committee, White Rabbit Arts Festival EXHIBITIONS 2025 Birds of a Feather, 12'x56' Mural, Kelowna Arts Academy, Kelowna BC 2025 ArtMart Vending Machine - Kelowna Art Gallery, Opus Art Supplies, Kelowna BC 2024 Post Card Project and Studio Sale, The Alternator, Kelowna BC 2024 Arts on the Avenue Festival, Bernard Avenue, Kelowna BC 2024 Blue Impressions - Studio9 Cyanotype Collection, Interior Health, Kelowna BC 2023 Annual Member's Exhibition, The Alternator, Kelowna BC 2023 Dreams & Nightmares, Opus Group Exhibition, Rotary Centre for the Arts, Kelowna BC 2023 Under the Sea - Beyond Human, Studio9 Collaboration, The Alternator, Kelowna BC 2022 Post Card Project, The Alternator, Kelowna BC 2022 Meet Me On Benard Augmented Reality Festival, Kelowna Art Gallery, Kelowna, BC 2022 The Assembly//The Human Condition, The Alternator, Kelowna, BC 2019 Live Painting, Ostrea Lake Release Show, Halifax Music Co-op, Halifax, NS 2019 Art Acquisition, Truro Art Society, McCarthy Hall NSCC, Truro, NS 2019 Performance Art, “Fresh Looks” Black Rabbit Fashion Show, Menz & Mollyz, Halifax, NS 2018 Insider Outsider Project, Just Us! Cafe, Halifax, NS 2017 Artist of the Month, Blue Apples Arts and Wellness Centre, Halifax, NS RESIDENCIES/WORKSHOPS 2024, Nuit Blanche, Book Binding, Opus Art Supplies, Kelowna BC 2024, Sticky Notes Anijam, Traditional Animation, Studio9, Kelowna, BC 2020, Red Mango, Relief Printmaking, Plancha Perdida Studio, Villeta, COL 2019, Honey & Salt - Self-Directed, Red Clay Art Farm, Economy, NS EDUCATION Mount Saint Vincent University, B. Ed, 2016 Saint Mary’s University, B. Arts, 2013 |
